Our Power Partners

NEA President Reg Weaver

I want you to know that when NEA enters the arena to fight for public education, we no longer stand alone.

This is because we have been very busy forging working partnerships with other education groups such as the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), and with community-based organizations such as ACORN, the National Council of La Raza, LULAC, ASPIRA, the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Public Education Network (PEN).

This partnership building is a crucial element in NEA becoming a more effective advocate for you, your schools, and your students. Teachers and ESPs alone cannot accomplish all that we want to accomplish in our classrooms and work sites without outside support, and neither can NEA.

Take, for example, the new federal education law-- ESEA's so-called No Child Left Behind Act.

Administrators very much share our concerns about this new law.

After all, the law imposes on administrators and educators alike a one-size-fits-all approach. It demands that all students meet the same level of achievement in the same period of time. It forces many administrators to pressure teachers to teach to the test instead of giving students the individual attention they need. It flies in the face of everything both administrators and teachers know about quality teaching and meeting the individual needs of our students.

In addition, the law is all about Washington imposing not just tests, but also a whole new layer of regulations and paperwork. This robs both administrators and teachers of our time, our creativity, and our discretion as professionals.

What's more, the new testing, paperwork, and bureaucracy cost real money--money that could be better spent on reducing class sizes, buying books and technology, and providing professional development--measures we know will enhance student achievement.

So it makes perfect sense for the administrators and NEA to team up to revamp this law--and that's precisely what we're doing.

I am also convinced that developing partnerships and working together with grassroots membership organizations will provide us with the foundation necessary to rally community members on the issues facing children, students, and public education.

Public support for public education has always been a little like solar energy. It is widespread and a power source of enormous potential. But if it is to be put to good use, it must be collected and concentrated. That's what grassroots organizations do--they collect and concentrate power--people power. And when linked together, these concentrations of people power will become an irresistible force for positive change in our schools. Together we can demand great public schools for every child in every school district in America--and our elected officials will have to heed our call--or else.

There is an axiom among organizers: Pick battles big enough to matter and small enough to win. The truth is that NEA's new partnerships will greatly enhance our abililty to win the really big battles--fixing and funding ESEA's so-called No Child Left Behind Act, securing adequate and equitable funding for our schools, and implementing education reforms that we know will improve student achievement.

NEA President
Reg Weaver