Students and teachers deserve better: Congress should reform the NEA federal charter

Most Americans are unaware that the National Education Association (NEA) — the nation’s largest teachers’ union — enjoys a rare privilege: a federal charter granted by Congress in 1906. That puts the NEA in the same elite company as storied civic institutions like the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts of America, and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

But while those organizations are rightly seen as broadly patriotic and educational in purpose, the NEA has morphed into something entirely different. Rather than promoting the “character and interests of the profession of teaching” and the “cause of education in the United States” — the goals stated in its charter — the NEA has become a partisan political juggernaut, wielding hundreds of millions of dollars and outsized influence to advance an agenda far beyond the classroom.

It’s time for Congress to step in and act, and a new bill would do exactly that.

In the 2021–22 academic year, the NEA boasted nearly 2.5 million active members, and even more public school employees are bound by NEA-negotiated contracts. Its D.C. headquarters reported over $600 million in revenue, not counting the vast sums collected by its state and local affiliates. It is, by every measure, the largest labor union in the United States and the most powerful private influence on American public education policy.

Yet the NEA was never meant to be a political engine. Incorporated in Washington, D.C. in 1886, the NEA initially functioned as a professional association, not a labor union. That changed in the 1960s and ’70s as collective bargaining in government took root. From that point forward, the NEA gradually transformed into a political organization — a shift that has only accelerated in recent years.

Today, there’s little that the NEA doesn’t weigh in on, from gun control to abortion rights, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, racial justice activism, and gender policies in sports. In short, if it’s controversial in American politics, the NEA probably has a position on it — and the money to influence outcomes. Last week, the NEA voted to fight against President “Trump's embrace of fascism”, voted to promote controversial events in public schools, and voted to sever all ties with the Anti-Defamation League.

The NEA stands alone among labor unions as the only one with a congressional charter. That charter — shorter and less restrictive than most Title 36 charters — grants the NEA prestige and recognition without any meaningful accountability to Congress or the public. Unlike other federally chartered groups, the NEA can determine the entirety of its governance and operations through its own internal bylaws, with little oversight.

This imbalance must be corrected. Revoking the NEA’s charter entirely would serve only as a symbolic rebuke, because the union’s D.C. incorporation predates the charter. But Congress has the authority — and the obligation — to amend that charter to ensure the NEA upholds the public trust it once enjoyed.

The NEA’s current behavior goes far beyond its original mission. While its charter focuses narrowly on promoting the teaching profession and the cause of education, the union’s own internal goals have ballooned to include:

• Promoting “the health and welfare of children,”

• Defending “public employees’ right to collective bargaining,”

• Supporting “racial justice for our students, our communities, and our nation,”

• Providing “leadership in solving social problems,”

• Using “all available means, including organizing, legal, legislative, electoral, and collective action.”

  
  

In other words, the NEA is no longer just a teachers’ association — it is a massive political enterprise advancing an expansive and often divisive social agenda. That’s not what Congress envisioned when it gave the NEA its charter. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of what that designation was meant to honor.

Short of revoking the NEA's charter, Congress could require any of the following reforms:

1. Ban the NEA from electoral politics and lobbying.

2. Mandate annual transparency reports to Congress.

3. Prohibit racial quotas or discriminatory practices.

4. Eliminate the NEA’s special D.C. tax exemption.

5. Ensure its leadership structure is democratically representative of its members.

6. Require affirmative consent before collecting dues from public employees.

7. Ban taxpayer-funded union release time.

8. Subject the NEA to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.

9. Bar the NEA from encouraging or tolerating teacher strikes.

10. Clarify officer liability, tax-exempt status, and corporate dissolution procedures.

    
    

These aren’t radical demands — they’re basic guardrails for accountability.

Perhaps the most revealing insight into the NEA’s current values came at its 2019 convention, when members rejected a proposal to refocus the organization’s efforts on “increased student learning in every public school in America.” The resolution argued that student learning should be the NEA’s highest priority and the central focus of its resources.

It was voted down.

That vote, more than anything else, demonstrates how far the NEA has drifted from its chartered purpose. It can be argued that the organization no longer prioritizes students or learning. It prioritizes power.

Congress has reformed and even repealed federal charters before — most notably when it stripped the National German-American Alliance of its charter in 1918 after concerns about its activities. With the NEA, the case for reform is not rooted in partisanship but in principle. This is about ensuring that a powerful institution, operating under a congressional endorsement, actually serves the public good.

The reforms listed above are reasonable, targeted, and an effective blueprint to restore accountability, transparency, and educational focus to the NEA. Congress must act to align the NEA with its original mission and ensure that America's largest teachers’ union once again becomes a voice for educators and students — not ideology.

This is about reclaiming public education from politics and putting children first. Congress has the tools. All it needs now is the will.