As some modicum of normalcy returns to Wisconsin, Ohio, and other Midwestern states that have been embroiled in collective-bargaining furor, it’s worth keeping watch on the NEA. As Mike Antonucci writes in his latest EIA communiqué: “There should be no mistake about it—NEA sees [this push-back] as a threat to its very existence.” And the union may be right. The 2010 elections—and the sea of red they ushered in at the state level—emboldened Republicans for the first time to attack, systematically, the NEA’s sacred cows. But don’t expect the nation’s largest teacher union to quietly fade away. The group has already begun launching a two-pronged response: Kill potential anti-union legislation and, when that isn’t possible, attack that selfsame legislation in courts (a la Wisconsin at present). A white flag, from either side, is far away yet, but the war, for better or for worse, has definitely begun.
“‘We Are at War’—NEA’s Plan of Attack,” by Mike Antonucci, Education Intelligence Agency, March 21, 2011.