NEA Board of Directors’ Report
September 28, 29, & 30, 2006
Washington, D.C.
Tom Wellman and Ken Buhrmann
NEA Legislative Lobbying on Capitol Hill-(Thursday, September 28, 2006)
Nevada’s NEA Directors returned to Washington, DC on Wednesday, September 27, 2006, in order to attend a legislative briefing scheduled by NEA for Thursday, September 28, 2006. At that time, we were briefed by NEA’s Government Relations staff on the upcoming election activities and the desired results from these activities. NEA and its members have worked hard to create a positive change at the local, state, and national level, but more work is still needed to make our goals a reality. Those in attendance at this briefing were reminded that their efforts in this election process were appreciated, and encouraged to keep working till election day was over. NEA has continued to monitor the bills that are being introduced in this last session of the 109th Congress in an effort to prevent any negative legislation from being passed. Letters from NEA were sent to members of the House of Representatives urging members to oppose the “so-called” Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006 (H.R. 4844). This ill-conceived bill would actually undermine the integrity of our election process by suppressing voter participation. Another letter was also sent to members of the House of Representatives on behalf of the 3.2 million NEA members encouraging them to add their name as a co-sponsor to the Student and Teacher Safety Act (H.R. 5295) introduced by Geoff Davis (R-KY). H.R. 5295 would promote a safe school environment by requiring districts to have in place policies addressing reasonable student searches. Congresswoman Berkley’s staff took this so seriously that they contacted NSEA and spoke with Terry Hickman, President and Julie Whitacre, Director of Government Relations, as to how this measure would impact schools in Nevada.
Ken and I were able to successfully schedule meetings in all five of our Congressional representatives’ offices. We met with staff members from Senator Reid and Ensign’s office where we discussed the estate tax and proposed legislation that would possibly alter revenue available to education. The educator tax deduction, the school construction program, and increases to the minimum wage were discussed along with legislation that would separate these issues from estate tax legislation. Both offices agreed they were in favor of any legislation that benefited students, teachers, and education. They wanted us to be aware that issues were very fluid during this time and that proposed legislation could change at a moments notice.
We also met with a representative from Congressman Porter’s office and with Congressman Jim Gibbons and Congresswoman Shelley Berkley. With our congressional representatives we discussed two issues restoring overall funding for programs under No Child Left Behind and moving legislation forward that would repeal the Social Security Offsets. All members of the congressional delegation, except Senator Ensign, had signed on in support of previous legislation to repeal the Social Security Offsets and supported restoring the funding cut under No Child Left Behind.
We did have a very successful “Ah, ha!” moment in Senator Ensign’s office when we talked about the Social Security Offset. It appears there is a movement on at the national level to recruit former military personnel into the classroom to fill some of the short falls that have been created due to teacher shortages. Many of the military personnel have expressed reservations because they would lose their social security. When we brought this issue up to Senator Ensign’s staff, the response was that “it’s time to revisit our position on this issue.” Ah,Ha! Well at least they are finally listening.
NEA Pacific Regional Caucus- (Thursday, September 28, 2006)
The Pacific Regional Caucus was held on Thursday, September 28, 2006, in room 814 of the NEA building. At this time, state presidents shared their reports regarding the upcoming elections and the struggles they were facing with attacks on public education. It looks to be a very important election season for all states in the Pacific Region.
The Pacific Regional Steering committee gave a report on the upcoming conference. The theme for this year’s conference is “America’s Best Investment: Great Public Schools.” The conference is scheduled from February 16-18, 2007 at the Anaheim Marriott. The call for programs has been issued and a few have already been received. State Presidents were reminded to share the information with their affiliates and encourage them to submit new, unique, innovative programs that would make this a spectacular conference.
NEA Board of Director’s Meeting
September 29 & 30, 2006
NEA Building
Washington, DC
Reports
President: President Weaver discussed his activities with us during the last several weeks since the annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. The recently approved positive agenda from NEA regarding the reauthorization of the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” has been very well received by our friends and more want to sign on to positively move this reauthorization through the legislature. Our president also unveiled his twelve point plan of educational reform to address the national crisis in drop out prevention. A news conference is scheduled to unveil this comprehensive plan.
Vice-President: Dennis Van Roekel discussed his activities with the Board. He reported on the ESP of the Year award nominations which are due on December 14, 2006. Dennis went into further detail with the NEA/AFL-CIO Labor Solidarity Agreement and the process that local affiliates must go through to be recognized. He also discussed his work with the NEA Academy. The Academy is an online pilot program that is being developed to provide professional development and local affiliate training. The reception for this program has been positive and more information will follow in the months to come. Dennis is continuing his work with the membership committees to develop a continuous membership from Student to Active to Retired and move the Associate membership through at the next RA.
Secretary/Treasurer: Lily Eskelsen reported on the budget and the membership numbers. This is the start of the new fiscal year so, to date, a lot of activity has not yet been logged. No significant changes could be noted at this time. As local and state affiliates are still reconciling their own rolls from last year, no new membership trends could be noted at this time. However, the organization did experience a 1.06% increase in active membership last year. Membership was up over 16,000 and we expect to see the same trend continue.
Executive Committee members: Members of the Executive Committee submitted their activities in writing for us to review.
Executive Director: John Wilson discussed his activities with us which included the reorganization of the Great Public Schools department. The reorganization brought many content areas under the direction of this department. This was done in an effort to provide better service to membership and the organization. Also discussed was a new NEA bookstore/coffee shop in the building to sell logo material to visiting members and guests. Staff has had numerous requests for this type of operation over the years and it was felt that it was the right time to address the request. John also discussed NEA’s new online communication.
General Counsel: Bob Chanin discussed a number of cases that NEA is currently involved in that could impact member rights. The first one is Alabama vs. Chao (Secretary of Labor) in which 33 of our state affiliates had filed suit against the Department of Labor because of its ruling that all state affiliates fall under the provisions of the Landum-Griffin Act even if they do not represent private sector employees because their national affiliate does fall under the provisions of the Act. The Court of Appeals did have the right to interpret the Act. NEA has requested that the Court of Appeals rehear the argument. At the present time Mr. Chanin felt there is no significant need to worry as there will be sufficient time to restructure accounting systems if the decision is upheld. He went on to discuss the case involving the Washington Education Association (WEA) and the steps a union must take to use funds that are collected for political action. The issue here is not if an Association can use these funds for action, but the process that is used if a member wants to “opt out” of having their funds used to support a particular item. This will be one to watch as it is scheduled to be heard at the US Supreme court, January 5, 2007. He also discussed NEA’s continued involvement in the NCLB lawsuit-Pontiac vs. Spelling. The Department of Education asked for the suit to be dismissed on the grounds that NEA has “no standing.” The court granted the motion to dismiss and NEA is appealing the decision. Connecticut has filed suit against the Department of Education in regards to the unfunded mandates of No Child Left Behind. Once again the Department of Education has asked that the suit be dismissed as Connecticut has not exhausted all remedies through the Department of Education channels. The court dismissed the case.
Action Items
Recommend for Board of Directors approval of the allocation of $833,090 from the Contingency Fund to fund implementation of those 2006 New Business Items adopted by the NEA Representative Assembly that cannot be accomplished within the 2006-2008 Strategic Plan and Budget.
Motion carried
Motion carried
Motion Carried
Discussion Items
Secure School Funding Project-Deputy Executive Director, John Stocks presented a very comprehensive report on the battle that state and local affiliates face on TABOR/65% solution and states will continue to face these initiatives in the years to come. It is important that states take these measures seriously and be prepared to do battle.
Elementary Secondary Education Act, reauthorization- Becky Pringle, executive committee member from Pennsylvania, did a presentation on NEA’s Positive Agenda for the reauthorization of this important piece of legislation that faces our legislators. NEA has received a great deal of positive press regarding this piece, which has brought on board more of our “friends” to sign on to help promote our agenda. The committee would still like stories from our members on how they have been impacted by this act.
NEA Toolkit Presentation-Carolyn Crowder, executive committee member from Oklahoma, did a presentation on this powerful weapon that both local and state affiliates can use to defend themselves when public education is attacked. All the tools are provided in the kit to help state and local affiliates develop strategies and programs that will promote public education. Local affiliates can access this information though their UniServ, at NEA Connect, or through the state office.
Legislative Update-Diane Shurst, Government Relations Director, explained that as we all wait for the results from the November 2006 election, NEA is anticipating gridlock in Congress until the 2008 Presidential elections are over. With that we heard a presentation from Doug Sosnik who was a senior staff member in the Clinton White House and co-authored “Applebees’ America.” He talked about the five issues that are driving politics today: immigration, technology, globalization, failure of institutions, and 9/11, Mr. Sosnik talked about NEA’s power and that of its members. We need to plan and organize our members so that they can have a positive impact on the 2008 agenda.
Bob Carpenter, from the American Viewpoint, reported on his findings on our Republican members. This was a result of a new business item from last years RA on how we can improve our outreach to NEA’s Republican members. NEA was encouraged to provide more state based training in an effort to more effectively engage our Republican members and make them feel more a part of our Association. This bi-partisan effort could even help to promote our own legislative agenda.
Senator John Kerry (D, MA) spoke to members of the Board on Friday morning. He was candid with members of the Board about his past run and the possibility of a run for president in 2008. Senator Kerry did say that his one regret from the past run for President was not showing up when he received the endorsement from NEA. Senator Kerry fielded questions from the audience.
The Board participated in a GLBT Observance on Friday, September 29, 2007
The Board participated in an American Indian/Alaskan Native Observance on Saturday, September 30, 2007.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 P.M. on Saturday, September 30, 2007.
Next meeting is scheduled for December 6,7,& 8, 2007 in Washington, D.C.