For more than a century, NEA’s members have joined together with families and community leaders to advocate for our students and our public schools.
And along the way, we’ve accomplished quite a bit.
Take a look at what we can do together when we speak up for students and educators.
2026
EDUCATION FUNDING
Proposed cuts defeated
Legislation that ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history included level or near-level funding for critical education programs in FY2026, including Title I, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and full-service community schools. The Trump administration had threatened to slash education funding by 15 percent or more.
2025
FEDERAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Educator jobs preserved
In response to the Trump administration’s reductions-in-force, Congress included a provision in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that blocks termination of educators in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools and military child development centers. The Federal Education Association, an NEA affiliate, represents 6,000 educators in DoDEA schools stateside and overseas.
MEMBER ENGAGEMENT
Big rise in emails to Congress
In 2025, NEA digital activists sent a record 1.4 million emails to Congress—nearly three times as many as the year before. From an advocacy standpoint, the top issues were the Trump administration’s push to dismantle the Department of Education, FY2026 education funding, Medicaid cuts, and support for students with disabilities.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
GPO/WEP repealed
On Jan. 5, NEA Vice President Princess Moss and state affiliate leaders joined President Joe Biden at the White House as he signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law—the culmination of NEA’s decades-long campaign to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that slashed Social Security, pension, and other retirement benefits. More than 1.1 million people have received retroactive payments totaling more than $7.5 billion, with an average payment of nearly $7,000; monthly benefits have risen by $350, on average.
EDUCATION FUNDING
$7 billion in education funding restored
Bowing to pressure multiple sources, including members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, the Trump administration released $7 billion in education funding it was attempting to withhold. The money was withheld just days before it was to be used to support various summer programs and prepare for the 2025-26 school year.
RURAL EDUCATION
Secure Rural Schools program renewed
The Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program provides crucial funding for public schools, roads, and other public services in rural areas across America. Rural schools educate nearly 10 million students—1 in 5. Funding lapsed at the end of FY2023 and has been renewed through FY2026.
2024
HIGHER EDUCATION
Historic amount of student debt cancelled
President Biden cancelled $160 billion in student debt for nearly 5 million borrowers—more than any president in U.S. history. Beneficiaries included 1 million educators and public service workers who received $78 billion through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
Building support to address abuses
Shortly after the NEA Board lobbied Congress on the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, the bill advanced in Congress and calls for action intensified. The Washington Post published a front-page story on abuses in Indian boarding schools, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops apologized for the church’s role in the “history of trauma” at church-run boarding schools, and President Biden apologized on behalf of the federal government for the schools and the damage they did to Native American/Indian children and families.
2000-2023
2023
Draconian cuts defeated
Extreme cuts in education funding proposed by the House GOP included eliminating more than 50,000 Head Start slots, slashing Title I funding by 80% and crippling programs for English learners. The bill would have wiped out as many as 224,000 educator jobs, leading to larger class sizes and less individual attention—the opposite of what today’s students need. NEA, our members, and allies conveyed these facts, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to pull the bill from the floor when it did not have enough votes to pass.
2022
Preventing another January 6
Incorporated in the year-end spending bill, the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act bill seeks to prevent a repeat of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Congress. Provisions of the bill ensure that the electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately will reflect the people’s vote in each state and clarify that the vice president’s role in counting electoral votes is “solely ministerial.”
2022
Treating pregnant women fairly
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, also incorporated in the year-end funding bill, creates a uniform national standard for reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions.
2022
Ensuring marriage equality
The Respect for Marriage Act ensures couples in same-sex and interracial marriages the same legal protections that other couples enjoy. It also preserves state and federal benefits for such marriages, should the courts open the door to future legislation prohibiting them.
2022
Reducing gun violence
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is the first significant gun safety package in three decades. It enhances background checks for gun purchasers under age 21 and broadens access to mental health services, especially school-based programs. It also encourages states to implement red flag laws that keep individuals at elevated risk of harming themselves, or others, from gaining access to guns.
2022
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed
Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman and public defender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. NEA members supported her nomination because of her impeccable credentials and to help ensure that our justice system reflects the very best of America.
2022
Inflation Reduction Act helps students and families
On August 16, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. The most significant climate investment in U.S. history, the bill also makes healthcare more affordable by reducing prices for certain prescription drug prices and capping the cost of insulin.
2022
Violence Against Women Act reauthorized
The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act maintains protections for victims, makes vital investments in preventing sexual assaults, protects victims of domestic violence from intimate partner homicide, and increases victims’ access to safe housing and economic stability. It also strengthens the law by closing the “boyfriend loophole” and barring people convicted of abusing, stalking or assaulting a dating partner from purchasing or owning a firearm, a provision that also applies to people under a court-issued restraining order.
2021
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law
The legislation represents a historic investment in roads and bridges, along with broadband funding. It also extends the Secure Rural Schools Act, works to eliminate lead pipes in schools and childcare facilities, and invests in electrifying school buses to reduce emissions.
2021
NEA members win debt cancellation for hundreds of thousands of public service workers
After hearing from thousands of NEA members across the country, the Department of Education announces much needed reforms in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The changes include a temporary waiver providing imminent relief for tens of thousands of public service workers, like educators, and eventual relief for hundreds of thousands of borrowers. Previously, the broken PSLF program denied 98 percent of the applications filed and forgave just 16,100 borrowers.
2021
NEA helps pass COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act
NEA members rally to protect Asian Pacific Islanders from hate crimes and discrimination spurred by the pandemic. The law strengthens federal efforts to address these crimes in multiple ways.
2021
Biden’s American Rescue Plan prioritizes public schools
The single largest investment in public education in U.S. history, the American Rescue Plan includes all three of NEA’s top priorities: $170 billion in dedicated education funding for K-12 schools and higher education; $350 billion in state and local aid to help avoid further layoffs of educators and other essential public servants; and $7.2 million in emergency funding for the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program to equip students to do schoolwork at home.
2020
Health care benefits protected
NEA urges the Supreme Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act and safeguard the health and safety of students and families; the Court agrees.
2019
Education Support Professionals honored federally after a decade of lobbying
The Recognizing Achievement in Classified School Employees Act, passed with bipartisan support, establishes the Recognizing Inspiring School Employees (RISE) Award for excellence in providing services to pre-K to grade 12 students and schools.
2019
Affordable Care Act’s 40 percent tax on “high cost” health plans repealed
Scheduled to take effect in 2022, this tax burden would have been borne by the 180 million Americans with employer-sponsored health coverage—including many educators—in the form of benefit reductions, higher deductibles, or both.
2018
#RedForEd movement shows educator power
The national #RedForEd movement begins in West Virginia, with educators striking in response to low salaries and rising healthcare costs. Educators in California, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and other states joined in the following two years.
2015
Educators cheer for passage of The Every Student Succeeds Act
Educator activism and lobbying leads to the replacement of No Child Left Behind. The Every Student Succeeds Act meets all three of NEA’s core goals: an “opportunity dashboard” to help ensure equity and opportunity for all students, less standardized testing decoupled from high-stakes decisions, and empowering educators by giving them a voice in federal, state, and local decision-making.
2015
Educator tax deduction made permanent
In recognition of the money that educators spend from their own pockets to equip classrooms, the $250 educator tax deduction is made permanent and indexed to inflation.
2012
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protects thousands of educators
On June 15, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that people who were brought to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for two years, subject to renewal. They are also eligible for work authorization, and many become educators!
2010
$10 billion Education Jobs Fund created by Congress
After the Great Recession of 2008, this fund saved the jobs of an estimated 138,000 educators coast to coast.
1971-1999
1990
IDEA amended to protect the rights of students
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act promises to make a “free appropriate public education” available to children and young people with disabilities and to provide special education and related services.
1979
Department of Education elevated to Cabinet
Following years of intense lobbying efforts by NEA, the United States Department of Education is elevated to full cabinet status, helping to provide and regulate education nationally.
1975
Education for All Handicapped Children Act becomes law
With the activism of NEA members, President Gerald Ford signs the civil rights measure into law, guaranteeing access to education for every child.
1974
The U.S. Supreme Court defends rights of working women
NEA wins a Supreme Court case striking down mandatory maternity leave for pregnant teachers.
1972
NEA forms the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education
The political action committee allows NEA to influence the national legislative agenda, shape electoral platforms, and lend support to candidates with positions favorable to public education, regardless of party. Funded by member contributions, it becomes one of the nation’s largest and most influential PACs.
1971
Aspiring educators helped lower the voting age to 18
Student Educators launch Project 18, a national campaign to change the voting age to 18. Activists work to pass the 26th Amendment, which allows millions of young people to participate in the democratic process and to have a powerful voice in shaping their political future.
Celebrating the Passage of the 26th Amendment
1950-1970
1967
NEA members elect first Hispanic president, advocate for local funding
Braulio Alonso becomes NEA’s first Latino president. NEA begins a drive for multicultural instruction and improved the representation of people of color in textbooks.
1965
Title I regulations support students
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act seeks to level the playing field for the most vulnerable students, including poor children, students with disabilities, and English-language learners. The same year, an NEA-produced film, “Children Without,” is nominated for an Academy Award.
1965
President Lyndon Johnson signs ESEA
Johnson is named an NEA Honorary Life Member for signing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the cornerstone of the federal presence in K-12 education. The law represents a commitment to equal access to education for students regardless of ZIP Code.
1954
NEA and American Teachers Association join to recruit and retain educators of color
Following Brown v. Board of Education decision, NEA establishes a $1 million fund—more than $10 million in today’s dollars—to “protect and promote the professional, civil, and human rights of educators,” and worked with ATA to support educators of color and retain them in the profession.
NEA and ATA Join Forces
Pre-1950
1948
NEA helps eliminate race-based salary schedules
NEA and ATA provides data to the Supreme Court in a case that found dual-salary schedules based on race unconstitutional.
1946
President Truman sign the National School Lunch Act into law
The lives of students from lower-income families are improved once Congress began providing grants to states to ensure that all schools could provide lunch.
1945
Educators win rights to political activism
The Hatch Act previously banned all public employees from political activity, but the amendment allows teachers and NEA to participate in public affairs.
1945
NEA members secure first collective bargaining agreement
NEA members in Norwalk, Conn. go on strike and secured the first-ever collective bargaining agreement for educators.
1944-45
NEA protects educator activism at the ballot
Kate Frank, a local teacher activist in Muskogee, Okla., is terminated for supporting a school board candidate. After NEA wins her case, she is reinstated and the Association initiates the Kate Frank/DuShane Fund to defend other wrongfully terminated educators.
1935
School construction is included in Works Progress Administration
Because of educator advocacy, hundreds of school buildings are constructed with federal funding.
1926
NEA supports accreditation for schools serving Black students
In the 1920s, the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SASC) did not accredit schools for Black students, severely limiting their access to higher education. NEA joines with the American Teachers Association to pressure SASC to change. The Joint Committee for Justice was the first of several successful NEA-American Teachers Association partnerships.
1919
NEA members create the first pension for educators
NEA member advocacy leads all states to create laws to provide funds for transporting children to school. That same year, NEA members in New Jersey creat the first pension for school employees.
1912
NEA votes to support the fight for Women’s Suffrage
Almost a decade before women are granted the right to vote, women educators are able to join NEA, vote in NEA elections, and run for office. Ella Flagg Young is elected the first woman president of NEA in 1910.
1906
NEA’s National Convention is Dedicated to Ending Child Labor
Educators lead the national conversation to end child labor, later supported and chartered by an act of Congress.
1887
NEA champions Retirement
NEA passes a resolution insisting on retirement plans for education employees in all states.
1865
NEA Denounces Slavery
At the summer convention, J.P. Wilkersham, president of the National Teachers Association (NEA’s forerunner), denounces slavery and recommends that no seceded states be readmitted to the Union until they agree to provide a free public school system for Black as well as white children.
1857
NEA is founded as the National Teachers Association
One hundred educators (from 10 state associations) meet with the mission “to elevate the character and advance the interest of the profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States.”
OUR VOICE = POWER Speak Up for Public Schools
When we unite and speak truth to power, we can have an enormous impact. Stay up to date on the latest actions you can take to protect and improve public schools for all students.
