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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 1998

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a historic vote, the Board of Directors of the National Education Association (NEA) today voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the NEA Representative Assembly approve guidelines for uniting with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to form a new national organization.

Delegates to the Representative Assembly will vote on the guidelines, called "Principles of Unity," when they meet in New Orleans this July.

The 106-53 Board vote came after a heartfelt, five-hour debate where some 49 Board members from 44 different states discussed and debated how unity could best improve public education.

NEA President Bob Chase began that debate by quoting from the NEA Representative Assembly's 1995 action that directed the NEA to resume unification discussions with the AFT. That action, passed by a two-to-one margin, concluded that "a single organization more effectively could serve the cause of public education and the interests of education employees."

The Board vote capped a week of deliberations on the proposed Principles of Unity. On Tuesday, the NEA Executive Committee met and unanimously recommended the Principles of Unity to the Board. On Wednesday, the Executive Board of the National Council of State Education Associations voted 12 to 3 to support the Principles. NCSEA represents NEA's state affiliate presidents and executive directors.

After the Board vote, NEA President Chase released these comments:

"Today's debate centered around how NEA members
and their  organization can best help children succeed.
In a new, united organization, we can stop wasting
time and energy and pool our  resources to help our
kids, our schools, and our country. Collective,
focused action can bring real improvements to our
schools.

"This is a defining moment for our communities
and our country, not just for NEA. This is a moment
to restate our values, beliefs, and dedication and to
launch a national movement to revitalize our public
schools and to help all of our kids.

"All over the country, educators are facing
legislative and ballot initiatives that aim to
undermine public confidence in and support for our
public schools. We cannot afford to let the far
right dictate our nation's educational agenda. The
far right, as an NEA director noted in today's debate,
is far from right. Our public schools are critical to
American democracy, and, united in one organization,
educators can help make them beacons of achievement.


"I am pleased by the strong vote for unity by our
Board of Directors. Board members thought hard and
long about this vote, and their individual decisions
reflected considerable personal soul searching. This
was a vote about our children's -- and our nation's
-- future."

The NEA Board vote is the latest in a series of steps to bring NEA and the AFT, long-time rivals, into one united organization. Negotiations between the two began in earnest after the New Business Item enacted by the NEA's July 1995 Representative Assembly.

In January 1998, the NEA and AFT negotiators reached conceptual agreement on key organization questions and circulated a progress report widely within NEA and AFT ranks. In February 1998, the NEA and AFT negotiators produced the Principles of Unity for consideration by the July 1998 NEA Representative Assembly and the AFT convention, which also meets in July.

Approval of these Principles -- by delegates to this summer's AFT and NEA conventions -- would commit the two organizations to unite. The Principles, if adopted, will guide the drafting of the new organization's Constitution and Bylaws, which will be voted upon by NEA and AFT convention delegates in 1999 or the year 2000. One year later, the new, united organization would begin operations.

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.

NEA Focus is a weekly online media newsletter with news and information about what National Education Association members are doing at the national, state, and local level to make things better for children, public schools, and America's future. For an e-mail subscription to NEA Focus, type "subscribe medialine" in the body of a message sent to Lyris@list.nea.org.