NEA Not Working for Children

On April 20, the National Education Association, the nation's largest teacher union, filed a lawsuit against the federal government claiming it had not provided sufficient funding to support the reforms required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the school reform legislation passed with bipartisan support in 2002.

This lawsuit establishes beyond any shadow of a doubt that the NEA is solidly against any kind of substantive education reform, whether it is bottom-up and parent-driven, as with vouchers, or top-down, as with NCLB and most other reforms.

Whatever the reform, the NEA will fight it, for decades if necessary, as the NEA's legal campaign against vouchers has demonstrated. While the union claims everything it does is "for the children," it's clear from this lawsuit that the education of children is the last priority of the NEA.

George A. Clowes

Mount Prospect, IL

phone 847/255-1820

clowes@heartland.org

George A. Clowes (clowes@heartland.org) is associate editor of School Reform News.