AFN has noted that the NEA is helping liberals rally the troops ahead of the mid-term elections. Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at the Family Research Council (FRC), accounts that the recently NEA convention featured little discussion of the commitment to educating public school students, but numerous left-wing agenda items were enthusiastically supported.
"They definitely want to signal their support for the LGBT community and LGBTQ issues," Kilgannon tells AFN. "They talked about environmental racism and climate justice."
Also, by a nearly three-to-one vote earlier this month, the union adopted a resolution stating the "NEA will publicly stand in defense of abortion and reproductive rights and encourage members to participate in … rallies and demonstrations, lobbying and political campaigns, educational events, and other actions to support the right to abortion."
However, leadership at the convention failed an attempt to have "mother" and "father" replaced with "birthing person" and "non-birthing person."
Kilgannon adds, though, that not all public school teachers are radical, fanatical, pro-Marxist ideologues.
"There are many wonderful Christian teachers in the public school system; they're simply not represented in any way, shape, form, or fashion by the National Education Association," the FRC spokesperson concludes.
