Growing Chorus of Voices
Supports NEA and Its Members

Educators, parents, political leaders from both parties, education and other organizations, and numerous newspapers and media have criticized Paige's remarks.

Reprinted by permission of Matson Cartoons

Here's a sample of the reaction:

"The list of Mr. Paige's errors is long. Last year he said he preferred to have a child in Christian schools and suggested that Christians were morally superior to others. He was called onto the carpet this week by members of the Senate who are threatening to revisit No Child Left Behind unless the department fully enforces the law as written. Instead of dealing with central issues, the department has wasted time and money on things like making sure the districts permit the right amount of 'constitutionally protected prayer.'

"Mr. Paige's 'terrorist' remark has finally exhausted his credibility and disqualified him as a spokesman for national education policy."

--New York Times editorial -- Feb. 25, 2004

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"To attack an organization that has a long history of working to improve the education of American school children and on behalf of our nation's teachers is unconscionable. Moreover, for a cabinet official to use language that places an organization and its members within the same class as people the President has been adamant about destroying, shows a high level of malice. I hope the Secretary will reassess his use of inflammatory language to describe an organization that does not agree with all of the Bush Administration's education policies."

--Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

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"Paige is upset with the National Education Association because it is lobbying to give states more flexibility and more money in meeting the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Law.

"If that makes the NEA a terrorist organization, what does it make the Utah legislature, where its House of Representatives voted 64 to 8 not to comply with any provisions of the law that were not fully financed by the federal government? And how are we to categorize the Virginia House of Delegates, which voted 98 to 1 to ask Congress to exempt Virginia from the law?"

-- Molly Ivins, columnist, Feb. 26, 2004

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"He is attacking the NEA because the teachers are outraged that the Bush Administration is failing to fund education adequately while imposing mandates on schools across the country. But the NEA isn't alone in that. Republicans in Utah condemn the lack of funding too. Are those Republicans terrorists?"

--Bob Borosage, President, Institute for America's Future

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"We are concerned that Secretary Paige's remark may indicate an underlying lack of appreciation and respect for the wonderful men and women who educate our children. Teachers should be our heroes!"

--Eve Fox, Online Campaign Coordinator, GiveKidsGoodSchools.com

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"The fact is that NEA has a long history of working on behalf of America's teachers and school children, and even if we happen to disagree now about certain aspects of No Child Left Behind, it is unconscionable to attack the NEA with this kind of language."

--U.S. Rep. George Miller, California

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"Secretary Paige's comment is not only outrageously insensitive and unacceptable, but shows the disdain of the Secretary of Education, who is supposed to be the leader of our national education efforts, for the 3 million hard-working teachers and other school staff who are members of the NEA. The Secretary has insulted the very people he is supposed to support and an organization that has done more for education reform than almost any other in the country."

--Ronald Blackburn-Moreno, President and CEO, ASPIRA

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"The reason for Paige's comparing the NEA to — what? — al-Qaeda, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, or Hamas was even more startling than the name-calling itself. He made the comparison because he frequently finds himself and the union at odds over the No Child Left Behind law, as if to suggest that NEA somehow is obligated to agree with policy it finds lacking."

--Jeffrey Page, columnist, The Record (Hackensack, NJ) -- Feb. 25, 2004

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"Instead of attacking our teachers, this Administration must fully support our educators by reforming the misguided 'No Child Left Behind Act' and by giving them and our public schools the resources they deserve."

--U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin

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"While this particular remark far exceeded the bounds of civilized debate, it is not the first time that Paige has made unwarranted categorical denunciations of organizations that differ from the Department's ideologically driven views on education. The National Education Association has both the right and the duty to speak for its teachers and other members whose interests it represents."

--Edward J. McElroy, Secretary-Treasurer, American Federation of Teachers

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"The tensions of high office can be extreme, especially when the official responsibilities have been poorly managed. That's the best explanation for Education Secretary Rod Paige's intemperate remark about America's largest teachers group....

"No wonder Paige is testy. His energy would be better directed into working with critics, the states and Congress on resolving questions about the law's substance, not creating Donald Rumsfeld-style concerns about the quality of President Bush's Cabinet."

--Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial -- Feb. 25, 2004

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"Our teachers are hard-working, dedicated public servants who serve on the front lines of our society. I have worked extensively with the Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) as well as the National Education Association (NEA). I have worked closely with the NSEA and its educator-members and the NEA here in Washington on many issues of mutual concern. Teaching is the most important job in the world. Our teachers deserve our appreciation and respect."

--U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne, Nebraska

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"The fact is, the Bush administration is having a hard time selling education reform — not just with teachers' organizations, but with states worried about how this law will work. That's not terrorism. That's democracy."

--Idaho Statesman editorial -- Feb. 25, 2004

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"The League of United Latin American Citizens is extremely disappointed in Secretary of Education Rod Paige's decision to attack the National Education Association. Equating teachers to terrorists demeans the office of the Secretary of Education and any high level official that represents the United States world-wide. The Secretary should be looking for solutions to the complex problems facing public education, not vilifying practitioners."

--Hector Flores, National President, LULAC 

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"They're not a terrorist organization any more than the National Business Organization is a terrorist organization."

--Gov. Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania

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"Yet the incident raises a point that is far more disturbing than one thoughtless comment from Paige.

"Over the last few years, the NEA has increasingly been demonized by people who object to its positions or its existence. Its critics refer to it derisively as the 'teachers' union,' as if there was something intrinsically wrong with teachers forming a union. Critics claim that the NEA doesn't exist to help education, but to help teachers — as if those two goals were mutually exclusive.

"The union got cross-ways with the Bush administration over the president's No Child Left Behind law. Even after Paige backed off from calling the NEA a 'terrorist organization,' he went on to decry the group's 'obstructionist scare tactics.' Yet the same education law the NEA blasts has been criticized by many mayors, governors, school board members and parents, Republicans as well as Democrats.

"America's teachers need to pool their resources and fight to have their voices heard. They face challenges in the classroom every day. They shouldn't also have to face the challenge of a hostile education secretary."

--Tennessean editorial -- Feb. 26, 2004

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"If the Bush Administration will not stand up for America's teachers and students, then certainly the Congressional Black Caucus will stand up for them."

--Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Elijah Cummings

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"He called [NEA a 'terrorist organization'] because the NEA opposes the education policies of President Bush. So do a lot of other people. Apparently they're terrorists, too.

"Or possibly not. At other times, Dr. Paige has called those who don't agree with him 'nihilists.' He's compared them with bigots who opposed the Supreme Court's 1954 school desegregation decision. He's called them 'enemies of equal justice and equal opportunity.'

"But those are compliments compared with Dr. Paige's ultimate condemnation: that critics of Bush education policies are like … are like - mai oui! - French diplomats at the United Nations."

--Wilmington (DE) Star News editorial -- Feb. 26, 2004

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"Whether said seriously or in jest, this illustrates in crystal clear terms the misplaced values of this administration. When they roll out the red carpet for big drug companies, HMOs and insurance companies in recent Medicare legislation, and then slap our nation's teachers in the face with this unacceptable language…I say they are wrong."

--U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts

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Stand up for educators and public education. E-mail President Bush  and your elected officials to express your views on Secretary Paige's comment. Let your elected officials know how you stand on eight major aspects of the "No Child Left Behind" law that need improvement.