The power of NEA is in its members’ dedication, resilience, and activism, said Andy Markus, NEA’s 2025 Education Support Professional (ESP) of the Year, in his address to the nearly 7,000 delegates gathered in Portland, Ore., for NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly.
No matter what curveballs people throw at us, we are still showing up every day to care for our students, colleagues, and communities,” Markus said. “We are at school board meetings, state houses, rallies, and more, doing everything we can to advocate for better learning environments for our students and better working environments for ourselves.”
A Lifelong Unionist
Markus, a head custodian in Utah’s Canyons School District, said he started doing union work “at the ripe age of three years old,” joining his parents, who were also ESPs, to campaign for school board members, participate in rallies, wave signs at intersections, and walk around neighborhoods to hand out flyers.
“I spent my whole childhood doing union work, and I loved every moment of it,” he said. “My parents instilled in me strong union values that have helped me in my roles as a head custodian for Canyons School District, as a union leader, and as Education Support Professional of the Year.”
While his parents encouraged Markus to start his career in public education, he said it is the students he works with every day who keep him there.
He shared a story of student interaction that he said will likely stay with him forever.
“One day, a student confided in me and told me he is gay. He explained that he was more comfortable talking to me than his parents, and he wanted to practice with me before coming out to them,” Markus said. “It was a powerful moment and reminder of how much students rely on the caring adults around them for support.”
Moments like that, he said, are why he believes everything NEA members do as educators matters.
“Our students notice, and they care,” he explained. “Our work is more than the responsibilities outlined in our job descriptions—it’s about fostering a community that students and staff feel proud to be part of; a community where everyone feels safe, healthy, included, and supported. Because every student and every educator should be able to learn and work in a school environment where they can be themselves, free from violence and any kind of bigotry.”
Activism Isn’t Red vs. Blue
But to ensure that schools remain safe, Markus reminded the delegates to be politically active.
“We have to be political, plain and simple. It's the only way we can make real changes,” he explained. “When I say political, I don’t mean red vs. blue, I’m saying you must advocate for you, for us, for students, and for working families.”
Markus emphasized that ESPs, like all educators, deserve more funding, resources, and opportunities, and he’s gratified that more and more NEA affiliates are launching statewide campaigns, like the NEA ESP Bill of Rights campaign.
“They are engaging educators, students, parents, community allies, and elected leaders to push for fair pay, good benefits, better working conditions, and respect for all ESPs,” he said. “It's a powerful movement that everyone here can join right now by pledging to support NEA’s ESP Bill of Rights.”
Markus recognized that it’s a challenging time for public education.
“But challenging times give us an opportunity and a reason to grow as union members, as educators, as caregivers, as neighbors, and as leaders,” he said. “It takes all of us—every member of our union—to make big changes. We can’t wait around and expect someone else to come and save us. We are the ones who must come together to save us.”
Turning Losses into Wins
When Utah passed a collective bargaining ban earlier this year, Markus admitted that it felt like a big loss. But he soon realized that it meant unions had more work to do.
So, we joined a coalition of public sector unions, we organized, and we won more than enough signatures to get a referendum on the [November 2026] ballot,” he said. “This means we now have a fighting chance to repeal this anti-union law and win back our collective bargaining rights.”
Losses can be turned into small wins that become bigger when we keep trying, Markus explained.
“We can and we must continue to protect our public schools. We won’t stop until all of us get the pay, benefits, working conditions, and respect that we rightfully deserve,” he said. “Because when we fight...we win!”
