Statement of Bob Chase
President
National Education Association
On the Unity Vote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 1998

With today's vote, the NEA Representative Assembly has rejected the Principles of Unity. However, the dream of uniting America's educators in a single organization lives on.

Tomorrow, the delegates will consider proposals that will guide where we go from here in the quest for unity. Meanwhile, we will continue to work closely with the American Federation of Teachers on innovative joint efforts to enhance teacher quality, improve school safety and discipline, and modernize school buildings. Our state and local affiliates will continue to cooperate with their AFT counterparts. We remain steadfast in our commitment to America's children – to providing every single one of them with a quality public education.

Yesterday's debate demonstrated that the NEA family can disagree honestly about the best way to accomplish our goals. As I said to the Assembly this afternoon, we will continue our work on behalf of 2.4 million members and improve public education for 47 million American children.

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Note: The vote was yes, 4,091 (42.11 percent); no, 5,624 (57.89 percent).