Remarks as prepared for delivery by Kim Anderson, NEA Executive Director, to the 104th Representative Assembly

Hello, NEA!

To our nearly 3 million members, 7,000 delegates, Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and our amazing NEA and affiliate staff, thank you for all you do each day to fight for the kids and families and communities we are so lucky to serve.

I also want to give special recognition to our state presidents and to my colleagues in our state affiliates, our state affiliate executive directors.

Day in and day out you lead and manage with dedication and devotion to this organization.

As executive directors, we partner with leaders elected by NEA members to advance a glorious mission, vision, and set of core values.

And I must say that at the national level, we have a tireless leader of our extraordinary union … a fearless champion for students, educators, and the just and equitable public education system on which our nation’s future depends … President Becky Pringle.

Delegates, you heard from President Pringle the other day lay out many of the challenges we face in our country—a perilous moment for our democracy.

A crossroads between democracy and authoritarianism.

You heard from Dr. [Josh] Cowen about the through-line that connects those who are funding efforts to dismantle public education to the same crowd trying to dismantle democracy.

And you had the distinct honor of hearing from our dear friend and colleague, David Edwards, the general secretary of Education International, about the anti-democratic challenges that our educator siblings face around the world.

Delegates, let’s talk about the methodology being used here and around the world.

Because in order to educate, communicate, litigate, organize, mobilize, legislate and elect, we have to understand the strategy we are up against.

Our opponents have built their strategy on four C’s:

Chaos

Raise your hands if this sounds familiar:

How many people find it nearly impossible to keep up with the onslaught of 166 Executive Orders signed to date and the resulting lawsuits that pop up in our news feeds almost daily?

How many people have adopted a strategy to ration your news intake in order to protect your mental health?

Yep. Project 2025 told us this administration would flood the zone with countless rollbacks of policies designed to make us safer, healthier, more prosperous, and more free as a people.

They want to spread the pro-democracy coalition wide and thin, dividing us up into narrow factions assuming we will fight only to protect the interests closest to us … spreading us too wide and too thin to mount a collective defense.

Chaos theory is designed to weaken opposition to the regime in power.

Control

How many of you have been told to stop teaching what you know to be true?

(Raise your hands)

How many of you have had to take books off your shelves or faced other forms of censorship?  

In an effort to comply with the administration’s executive order related to diversity, Equity, and inclusion, there were 381 books removed from the U.S. Naval Academy library, including Maya Angelou’s, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and many other books reflecting the beautiful mosaic of authors in America.

They removed books that studied the KKK and the history of lynching in America, and yet they left ON the shelf Mein Kampf, by Adolph Hitler.

Imagine that!!

This administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from institutions that do not comply with this attempt to obliterate the free marketplace of ideas.

They know that the mere threat alone will lead to people self-censoring—even before there is any edict requiring it.

We’ve seen the mad rush in higher education institutions and corporations across the country to scrub the aspirational words of diversity, equity, and inclusion from their websites, and policies, and shutter programs that create safe spaces for freedom of thought and expression.

This form of retaliatory control is designed to stifle dissent—a right so important, it was the first enshrined in our Bill of Rights.

As my daughter said to me last night, dissent is patriotic, mom.

Cruelty

How many of you are working with students who fear their parents will be snatched off the street?

Raise your hand!

How many of you have students who don’t have enough to eat at home?

Well delegates, this big, bad, disgusting bill that passed the House two days ago, POURS more money into ICE and strips money out of food assistance programs.

Ripping children away from their parents, letting kids go hungry … this is BEYOND cruel.

It is immoral.

This use of cruelty is designed to make us all afraid. Afraid for our lives. Afraid for our families. Afraid for our jobs if we speak up. It’s designed to make us bow down. To comply. To submit.

This nation was conceived in liberty, and freedom is supposed to be our birthright. We didn’t want kings in 1776, and we damn sure don’t want kings now.

Chaos, Control, Cruelty.

The sum of that formula is corruption … to line billionaires’ pockets with tax breaks on the backs of everyone else.

Do you know that 50 of the S&P 500 companies in the U.S. paid zero in income tax last year?  Guess which company was at the top of that list? Tesla.

Despite reporting a $15 billion profit in 2023, Tesla took a $5 billion tax credit! It’s reported that between Tesla, Starlink, and X, Musk’s companies are making $38 billion in government contracts, subsidies or tax credits.

Meaning that WE’RE paying Elon, rather than Elon contributing to the common good. And he’s not alone.

This big, bad, horrible, no good bill that just passed the House two days ago gives over $1 trillion of our tax dollars—the tax dollars of hard-working, everyday Americans—to the wealthiest among us.

Over 12 million people will lose their healthcare over the life of this bill.

And Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos … and yes, the [Donald] Trump organization will all get even richer.

So, the people who bankrolled the last presidential campaign are getting quite a return on their investment while everyone else is less healthy, less safe, and less able to see the American Dream as their probability.

We wake up to policies like this and a social media machine that gaslights Americans every day.

They want us to believe that immigrants or poor Americans are to blame for the economic rules that have allowed companies like Tesla to pay ZERO income tax.

And by the way, I hold both major political parties responsible for the decades of economic rules that have diminished the number of people who have a voice in their workplace through belonging to a union.

Every human being elected has the responsibility of governing on behalf of all of us. It means doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people possible. And it damn sure means solving more problems than you create!

So delegates, yesterday’s celebration of Independence Day took on different meaning for me.

As I do every year, on July 4th, I spend some time reading portions of our founding documents. So yesterday, I focused on this:

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”

Those are the first words of the U.S. Constitution. It is the roadmap for how we as Americans are to govern ourselves, not be ruled by someone else.

We know the work of democracy is hard. It’s messy and uneven and really never ever complete.

The work of democracy is like the work of justice ….

To paraphrase Executive Committee Member Mark Jewell, “we are never arriving, always becoming.”

From the 13th Amendment ending slavery to 19th Amendment granting voting rights to women.

From Social Security to IDEA …

From Pell Grants to the Affordable Care Act …

From Title I to the Higher Education Act …

It has always taken ordinary people to bend the arc of history toward justice ….

And part of becoming a more perfect union is opening the doors of opportunity wider, not slamming them closed.

So what’s it going to take delegates to rescue democracy and public education?

Yes, it will take those seven verbs delegates that President Pringle outlined the other day:

Educate. Communicate. Litigate. Organize. Mobilize. Legislate. And Elect pro-public education, pro-democracy champions.

I would submit to you delegates that the most potent contribution NEA could make to the effort is through organizing and mobilizing millions of Americans to resist … to say NO … to say our democracy and our public schools belong to us!

But it’s critical that we learn from other countries around the world, and what we know is that an organized, sustained resistance is the key.

Delegates, Harvard [University] Professor Erica Chenoweth has studied examples around the world of what it takes to topple authoritarian rule. Her research shows that when 3.5 percent of a nation’s population stands together in sustained nonviolent resistance, the probability of toppling authoritarianism goes way up.

In the United States, that’s roughly 12 million people … and NEA—we are nearly 3 million strong. If each of us could activate just one person, we’d have nearly 6 million people. And if each of those mobilized just one more, we’d be 12 million allies in the fight.

NEA, this is the biggest movement moment since the Civil War.

And Together, We Are Courageous.

I’m personally so inspired by all of you: the millions of members and thousands of delegates who call this union home. I’m also inspired by my friends and family members.

Earlier this year, during the Hands Off Day protest in Washington, D.C., I met up with a few of them who had come down from New England.

We were all together on the National Mall, holding up our handmade signs, and one of my family members was there celebrating her 80th birthday.

She said, “Kim, I was here during the March on Washington. I was here to protest the Vietnam War. I was here fighting for women’s rights. I can’t think of anywhere else that I am supposed to be today.”

We talked about the masked men who are indiscriminately grabbing people off of American streets to be sent to God knows where—without due process, without warrants, without question.

We talked about the gravity of the moment that we are in, and she said to me, “I’ve lived my life. If they have to take someone, they should take me.”

Someone in my family was literally willing to put it all on the line for the values we believe in.

My family and I talked to many seasoned members of the protest community that day.

So many of them were of the same mind. They were extraordinary. They were brave. They were willing to stand ten toes down on their values.

And even as my family member’s words made my eyes fill with tears, they also filled my heart with resolve. It’s same resolve I feel when I see all of you—our members.

I know one thing for sure: We cannot save anyone or anything by keeping quiet and hoping it all goes away.

In the face of injustice, as the great civil rights leader Audre Lorde said, “Our silence won't protect us.” And Lorde is right.

This administration only takes notice when we are united and loud … when we are brave enough to step up and step forward, and say, “Not on our watch.”

So, it matters that people in communities nationwide—teachers, parents, librarians, public education advocates—are staging walk-ins … and resisting book bans … and creating safe zones for children at school.

And it matters that the NEA, our union, is at the vanguard.

But I do need to acknowledge: Being brave can feel scary—especially when your job is at stake.

And, even more, if you feel like you are standing all alone.

So, delegates I want you to remember this always: You are never alone. This union has your back!

When it comes to courage, every small act makes a difference. Maybe it’s comforting a terrified student who fears their parents will get ripped away from them. Maybe it’s planning a joyful event for your colleagues—celebrating a special occasion or simply because you made it through another day together.

These acts of resilience—acts of love—can be the spark that lights a fire … giving someone else the energy … inspiration … and confidence to act as well.

Organize. Mobilize.

Delegates, our assignment is clear:

Twelve million Americans must choose each day to engage in big and small acts of resistance and noncooperation with an administration that has no intention of recognizing ANY of our constitutional rights.

Sometimes acts of resistance can be singular, but they have an incredible ripple effect.

Like our union sibling Idaho sixth-grade history teacher Sarah.

When Sarah’s school district told her to take down a classroom sign that said “Everyone is welcome here,” Sarah refused. And in her words, “It was so simple to me. Either everyone is welcome here or not.”

Sarah’s resistance—and the solidarity from our Idaho affiliate—helped shine a spotlight on the threats and intimidation our students, schools, and educators face today.

Stories like this will mobilize even more people to our cause … and help us drive momentum not only to resist but, yes, to BUILD.

Because, in a time when the rules are being flouted … when longstanding norms are being shattered … we have a chance to remake systems that are more just, more inclusive, and more sustainable.

Our union itself can be a model of what that future can hold. A place where people from all walks of life can come together and work together in support of the common good. And let me say it loud and clear: Everyone is welcome here!

And we NEED EVERYONE engaged!

Already this year, organizing, mobilizing, and collective action has led to meaningful legislative wins—wins that make life better for students and the educators who serve them.

• In Alaska, lawmakers significantly and permanently boosted funding for state education.
• In Mississippi, greater funding includes increases in educators’ health insurance premiums and retirement pay.
• The Texas legislature passed a record school funding bill with the largest teacher pay increase in state history.

And just as important as what we’ve helped push through is what we’ve blocked.

• Our efforts in Montana, the Dakotas, and New Hampshire helped ensure bad bills on issues such as vouchers, funding caps, and open enrollment never made it out of committee.
• Montana also joined Indiana in successfully contesting and, in some cases, defeating anti-union and anti-collective bargaining bills.
• And in Tennessee, when a bill was introduced that would have allowed public schools to deny enrollment to immigrant students, we helped make sure it died before the end of the legislative session.
• And in Utah, when the legislature passed a bill rolling back collective bargaining rights for Utah education employees, UEA, USEA, NEA marshalled a huge labor coalition effort to collect 324,000 signatures in 31 days to place a measure on the ballot to repeal the legislature’s attack on our bargaining rights.

NEA, our collective action is bringing real results.

We will not yield in our defense of public education, freedom, and democracy.

And we will not yield in our support of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

And guess what?

The harder we fight, the stronger our union grows.

Despite relentless assaults on our affiliates across the country, we are going to finish this year with net membership growth for the first time since the pandemic!

Delegates, I want to assure you that for years NEA has been steadily increasing its support of year-round organizing in our affiliates.

We now have 2,194 member organizers that we support through our year-round organizing program, lifted up and supported by our talented staff.

We’ve expanded our Growth and Strength Program, which has helped affiliates hire and deploy 167 full time staff organizers across the country.

And we created a Campaign Lab for local affiliates to learn how to develop organizing campaigns to win the schools our students and educators deserve.

We’ve expanded grants for locals engaged in not only bargaining for the common good but achieving labor-management collaboration systems in the places where there are trusting, productive relationships between our members, administrators, and school board members.

NEA has increased its support for affiliates who are organizing recognition and first contract campaigns, yielding new units in Colorado, New York, New Mexico, and Kansas.

In North Carolina (a non-bargaining state), Asheville City Association of Educators became the first local in North Carolina to reach majority status!

And the Durham Association of Educators launched a campaign for Meet and Confer authority and in the process won a school budget that was over 2.5 times larger than any budget request in memory …. AND they tripled their membership.

In Texas, the San Antonio Alliance won the biggest compensation package in 25 years.

In Arizona, the Tucson Education Association won 12 weeks of paid parental leave—the first of its kind in the state!

In California, members in Sacramento fought to create Community Schools steering committees at the district and site levels and won 10 percent across the board compensation increases.

And in San Francisco, UESF [United Educators of San Francisco] won an 84 percent raise for their lowest paid classified workers and won Community Schools CBA [collective bargaining agreement] language.

And the great United Teachers of Los Angeles won the second largest pay increase ever almost 23 percent over three years.

They achieved a reduction in standardized testing and stood in solidarity with their SEIU [Service Employees International Union] colleagues on a 3-day ULP [unfair labor practice] strike.

When We Fight … We Win!

When We Fight … We Win!

And we don’t just Fight Back, we Fight Forward!

Delegates our mission statement declares that “Our work is fundamental to the nation.”

NEA, America needs our strength. America needs our resilience.

America needs our vision and power to create something new … something beautiful … a public education system that welcomes and prepares every student and a democracy that delivers for everyone!

Let’s Go NEA! Let’s Go!