Unit 3: National Education Association (NEA)

Having been a teacher in the public school system, I was a member of the National Education Association (NEA). As a mater of fact, it was a required membership for the first year employees of the district where I was employed. From that time up until recently, I thought the NEA was an organization that simply protected k-12 school teachers and employees and had an influence in policy only in the K-12 sector of education. As it turns out, not only does the NEA have an influential voice in the K-12 sector but also in higher education.

By NEA's (2009) own admission, "We, the members of the National Education Association of the United States, are the voice of education professionals. Our work is fundamental to the nation, and we accept the profound trust placed in us." Therefore, NEA's agenda is to use its voice in higher education as an advocate for professionals within higher education. "Today, NEA is the largest college and university faculty and staff organization in the United States, representing more than 200,000 higher education employees in public as well as private institutions nationwide" (NEA, 2009). To further describe NEA's important role as an "opinion leader" in higher education finance: "On Capitol Hill, NEA lobbyists work effectively for increased financial support for higher education, including reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the mainstay of higher education funding, and for increased funding for research. In addition, NEA lobbyists monitor legislation on issues such as tax reform, retirement, health care, intellectual property, distance education, internationalization, and other subjects that have a significant impact on all higher education personnel" (NEA, 2009).

The NEA newsletter, The NEA Higher Education Advocate, is published six times per year in newsletter format. It highlights trends, legislation, resource material, and local, state, and national news in post-secondary education. A "Special Salary Issue" of the newsletter was released this year. This issue highlighted that the average salary for faculty over a ten year period, 1996-2006, increased less than .5%. The Advocate stated that this trend is a replica of the changes in state and local appropriations. Reports like this one publicize the salary issues that are also a part of higher ed finance. Since NEA advocates for professional higher education employees, the salaries of these employees is just one of the financial aspects that this organization speaks on behalf of.

Recession salaries. (2009). NEA Higher Education Advocate. Retreived on October 28, 2009, from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE_ADV_09_SpecialFull.pdf