I guess my comments and feelings will never see the light of day. My comments will be reviewed by the "blog owner" to see if it's acceptable to print here. Having a different opinion isn't PC in the NEA.

My problems with Obama is his support of partial birth abortion. Babies that can survive outside the womb but are murdered before they get a chance. The children of the future, the school children you all claim to care about. Partial birth abortion is murder. I support a woman's right to choose, in the first trimester. So I'm not just spouting anti-abortion rhetoric.

Every day teachers tell their students to be careful about who they choose as friends. A terrorist who plotted to blow up building in DC is not the kind of friend anyone wants. Someone who hates Israel is not a good friend. A pastor who hates "whitey" is not a good friend.
All are friends of Obama. He should not be the choice of the NEA

Why doesn't the NEA and its affiliates simply just say vote for all Democrats since over 90% over of your recommendations are for Democrats?

I too, am disappointed with the overt bias and push to elect Obama both through NEA and the media. Where can we go to get the real answers to our questions. Some of us also look at issues beyond our job and need more transparency into the candidates. A candidate can "say" they'll do anything just to get our vote...but lets look at their record to see if they can be trusted to follow through. I am very interested in the McCain effort to put more money toward Autism. The huge influx of children afflicted with this have barely hit the grade schools yet. This is not a decision the NEA should make for any of us.

I totally agree with Pat on why I am not choosing OBAMA. Why does the NEA disregard so many of the facts.

I don't understand how you can be a good christian and support Mc Cain's view in "keeping our money into our own pockets" when he refers to keep taxes low. What about the well being of the people that are close to you? you don't feed your children because it gives you a profit in return but because you care. Obama cares, he wants every child to have a good education, his views are supported by the national education association. If you give teachers more salary based on test scores you don't care about education. America is in a economic crisis Obama's views about the economy are supported by economists. He wants everyone to have a healthinsurance, shouldn't it be a basic human right in world leading country? If it can't take care of it's own people how can it lead the world, only threw war? or to show the world humanity as an opposite to the Taliban.
Also on a very big concern of this planet, the environment, takes Obama a great step in investing in new energy which will end America's depency on eastern oil within 10 years.

I can't believe there are teachers out there that would support McCain after the comment he made in the 3rd presidential debate??? McCain said he would replace teachers with soldiers from Iraq with no credentials!!! A vote for McCain means a vote for you losing your job.

McCain has also consistently voted against collective bargaining. We as teachers enjoy very good salaries and benefits due to collective bargaining. We need to support the candidates that support our interest. Obama and the Democrats have always supported collective bargaining agreements.

Voting for any candidate that does not value your education and credentials as a teacher and that does not suppport the rights of collective bargaining is biting off the hand that feeds you!!!

Wake up your jobs and collective bargaining rights are at stake here.

"Obama has said in the past that he would support school vouchers "if empirical research showed that they improved educational outcomes," now that he is the Democratic party nominee he has flipped another flop and said that he is against the idea of giving parents of poor kids the same chance to send their children to private schools as rich folk. Obama said in prepared remarks before the American Federation of Teachers convention "What I do oppose is using public money for private school vouchers. We need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools; not throwing our hands up and walking away from them."

Obama himself has thrown up his hands and walked away from public schools because he sends his own two daughters to private schools."

From:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/07/obamas_hypocrisy_on_school_vou.html

I've spent thirty-three years in public education, and have yet to see the PSEA or NEA in any role but that of the "any liberal cause" cheerleader. It just amazes me that a profession of well educated men and women can be so blindly lead down the path to national destruction.

Have we all been brain-washed, or have we just become too apathetic to care about the positions and candidates that are supported by our union dues? Don't mistakenly believe that only PACE money is used for political purposes. PACE money is the only money GIVEN to candidates, but your dues pay for all the free advertising mailed to the members in all the magazines and fliers.

Obviously the socialists have taken over our state and national organizations. Once they control you, they have taken over the schools, and subsequently the nation as well.

This is very simple. One commenter raised the question of how any teacher could vote for McCain based on a statement he made in a debate.
The answer is that none of us are just teachers. We are all Americans. Many of us teach the history of this nation and the foundations upon which our government (and our nation as a whole) was founded. Mr. Obama does not represent these foundations. This is not based on what the conservative right has said. It is not based on any media bias towards him. This is based solely on words Mr. Obama has said and based on the views expressed by those he surrounds himself with (ex. Michelle Obama, Sen. Joe Biden, Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rev. Wright).
I would much rather struggle under the yoke of NCLB for 8 more years (and that is hard for me to say) rather than see the socialistic ideals Mr. Obama and those around him are telling America they will implement come to pass.
People who built this nation often had to sacrifice what was personally beneficial in order to do what was right. I wonder if the teachers of America will think about this and realize just because a candidate seems right for education, that isn't everything that counts?

sorry Ned but you don't know what you're talking about. First of all it's PAC money, not PACE money. And they don't use PAC money to pay for any political mail that gets sent out. Claiming they do shows your ignorance of the whole system.

The worst thing that has happened to education is
NCLB. It is dumbing down our kids. I think they are getting just enough education to prepare
them for a trade school. I know a young lady, who made straight A's in high school then enrolled
in college. She said she was lost as could be in her classes. I think NCLB was begun because
Bush's friend happened to have a publishing
company. The friend got rich and moved to other things, I think. It was created by people, who know little about kids. My grandson could do in
three hours what he does in a week in his kindergarten. They don't even have a science table...little time for science. They are not
learning history. They are only teaching them what is on the test. There is no music besides
singing an Alphabet Song or something like that.
Music is supposed to help them in math. There is
little money for any decent art supplies. They
color or draw pictures and call that art. It is reading and math all day......little time for recess or p.e. I beg for great schools NOW.
Why can't evvery school be a world class school?
Obama sends his girls to private schools. I read
he pays about$15,000 per year for the youngest chiild and $28,000/or more for the other daughter.
He admits he got where he is because of his good education. American public schools are hurting.
Please get rid of NCLB or make some drastic changes in it. The school materials are not even very attractive to a little child...as far as
big bold print and bright colors. Please help
make changes! The poor teachers are just doing
what they are told to keep their jobs. It has taken the fun out of teaching. NCLB did not
work in Houston where it was first tried in TX.

10 things you should know about Barack Obama! HAHAHAHA I'm so glad you made those very important points. Now that I know Obaba (so much better), and that he listens to Bob Dylan and Sheryl Crow, He has my VOTE! That was Sarcasim. I want my union money back.

These comments here have given me more hope than much of the rhetoric I've heard or read lately. I happened to chance on the link to the NEA website. I've long known that the heart and soul of the NEA as an organization (not its members, mind you) is radically liberal, and that is a generally held view among most people. So, I assumed - correctly - that I would find nothing but McCain bashing and Obama praising once I got here. What I didn't expect was that there would be members here commenting and quite cogently about the appalling bias from top to bottom of this website and of the rashly liberal agenda of the NEA.

If you want to know how the rest of the world views the NEA, I believe Ned said it the best so far: "any liberal cause" cheerleader. Completely nondiscriminatory in its backing of those causes and with a rudder firmly set for the far left, the NEA ship rides on toward the horizon of an overtly marxist worldview. It gives me the greatest hope to see its own members using reason, logic and their ability to see things as Americans first and teachers second.

Of course I don't want my tax dollars being given to the public schools who are teaching an NEA approved socialist doctrine to the kids in my neighborhood and community. My kids don't go to public school anymore and their level of education rose DRAMATICALLY after leaving. My 10 year old daughter can now speak Latin fluently.

I'm not trying to knock educators, but there are a lot of teachers out there that don't deserve to be in the classroom. Frankly, they bring the perception of the rest of you down low in the eyes of parents and those parents quickly end up not trusting in the system which is failing to properly educate their children.

I see the post from another commenter - presumably an educator - and I think to myself, this person can't even write a proper sentence, doesn't know the basic rules of grammar. That's the kind of thing that scares me as a parent and citizen who's tax money is being spent without my consent (unless I want to be homeless). I'm not even going to bother getting into the whole Christians being selfish about taxes issue. That would be a whole article in and of itself.

But I digress...Mainly I'm very hopeful, though it may not have come across that way. I'm no McCain supporter, but as the far-lesser of two bad choices I give him my approval by default because of my considerable, strong disapproval of Obama. There simply is no way a rational, thinking American can vote for Obama. So, my vote this year will be against Obama. Who the recipient of that vote will be is, as yet, undetermined. But, I have renewed faith in our actual educators - but never in the union organizations that "represent" them.

It always cracks me up when people bash the union but say they support the teachers. Guess who the union is people? Teachers. Those teachers are the ones who vote to endorse a candidate. If you think they're biased here it's because the teachers wanted to endorse this candidate.

Actually, what I said is that I have renewed faith in our actual educators - especially those who know how to use their brains and have a love for America greater than for their union. Further, I said that I would never have faith in the union organizations that "represent" them. Certainly the union itself is made up of teachers. But there is a head and there is a body. It isn't the body that runs the agenda. If it was, then most parents would lose all faith in the PSS. No, the union has a head, and that head has an agenda and that agenda is as liberal as the day is long.

As a by-product, the union head also tries to get teachers better salaries and benefits. After all, a head without a body isn't that effective. Money does talk and teachers are human and they have needs and must live and eat and let's face it - money makes that happen. Okay, I'm being a bit sarcastic. Sorry.

But the bottom line is neither the head nor body can exist without the other. So, the head uses the body to achieve its agenda and the body lets itself be used so it can get more money. Cynically symbiotic, but there you have it.

I don't even know what the phrase "Support the teachers" even means. From the looks of it, not all of the teachers voted to endorse Obama. Other than on this article's feedback, I don't hear their voices being heard all that much. Why is that? You can keep on laughing, but I really don't see all that much here to be amused about.

The democrats of the 1950's would make the republicans of today look like liberals. And in a sense, they are very liberal. McCain will have bigger government, bigger debt, be a willing participant in the globalization of America and subordinating its economy to that of the global economy as most assuredly will Obama. But Obama is an avowed pro-abortionist, pro-marxist, deceitful demagogue whose only true skill is his ability to palaver on endlessly about absolutely nothing without stumbling. Can't we just save ourselves the trouble and hire a news anchor or improv actor?

My original point was that despite the NEA's being the face of educators and thus making people believe that most or all of the teachers out there are flaming liberals, it was heartening to see that there are actually some (and I hope a LOT of) free-thinking, liberty-loving Americans in the teaching profession. I don't know how most teachers think they're perceived by non-teachers and by the public at large, but if I was a non-liberal teacher and somebody came on here and said they were surprised that there were teachers who weren't liberals, I'd sit up and take note and I wouldn't be laughing about it.

Just wanted to put some information out in case it helps inform the discussion (which we're happy to see!):

* Two-thirds of NEA's 3.2 million members self-identify as Democrats. One-third are Republicans.

* NEA does extensive work with the latter group, hosting the annual Republican Leaders Conference and through websites like elephanteducators.org. There is also an NEA Republican Educators Caucus.

* NEA members do in fact run the agenda, voting at the annual Representative Assembly on the legislative agenda, organizational policy, and new business for the upcoming year. In fact, the RA is the world's largest democratic, deliberative body. Members who come to vote have been elected by their peers back in their states.

Thank you for reading and taking the time to share your comments!

Right out there on the home page of this site, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel is quoted as follows: "Educators can affect the political outcome of this election and the future of public schools by doing what they do best: educate." Is this article,with its muckraking headline and its use of scare tactics, what he means by educating? No bias here!!!

Thank you for the information. I am curious how the body of the NEA is divided in the individual states. As 2/3rds of the entire body are dems and 1/3 are repubs, is that just indicative of the overall body or is there a better breakdown by state or by region? Do the local members vote on possible representatives for the state and then those picked are voted on statewide or is it just one level of voting statewide? Do the representatives "run" for the position and if so are they divided on party lines or is that just one part of the puzzle and they run on agenda? Is their party affiliation kept secret during the running?

I know, a lot of questions, but I'm curious and inquiring minds want to know. :)

Questions are always welcome.
RA slots are allocated at the local and state level, based on the number of members in that state. Members who so desire are eligible to seek one of those slots. It is a non-partisan election. A member is certainly allowed to include their political affiliation in their biography if they so choose, but that is not included on the ballot.
Hope this helps.

I expect the NEA to evaluate candidates based on their position on EDUCATION ISSUES only. I believe that is what they do. If I want to evaluate the religious views of the candidate, I will turn to my church. NEA cannot be "all things to all people"..they are a PUBLIC EDUCATION association and resource. They are not endorsing on the issues of abortion or guns, but public education only.
NEA does endorse more Dems, but to me that is like the chicken/egg question. I think the NEA endorses more Dems because the Dems support public school issues and finance. When Obama talks about education, I can tell he is listening to educators. When McCain started talking about Troops to Teachers....I about fell out of my chair. Serving in a war does not automatically make someone qualified to teach in a classroom. How can we expect higher achievement with plans like that?
Obama supports the positions that will promote public education. That is why NEA should endorse him, and one of the many reasons I will vote for him.

I respectfully disagree with this article. The real horror is the way Barak Obama's charisma cons you to believe something other than his true standing on some issues. Yes Barak is charismatic, but he also has some character issues and is not ready or prepared to lead this nation. I have found some disturbing news stories which shed more of a light on the true Barak Obama. Obama’s muslim links:http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/muslim_in_the_white_house/ On abortion this is Obama’s position:http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm
Obama’s links to terrorists:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3736043.ece

I am quite disappointed in the tone of this article. It is full of a lot of hyperboles that could never occur under a McCain presidency. They are simply just scare tactics. We are educators, don't stoop to that level. I am truly disappointed in this. While I truly disagree with pay for test scores and with the over emphasis on standardized testing, I heard Sen. Obama say (to the RA) that he also believed in pay for scores/performance rewards. So, please be careful how you represent the man to the public. He will not be the savior of the nation or of public schools. He is just a man. Our government is so often bogged down in partisanship that it will prevent much of what either man wants to do.

So please don't depict McCain as horrible and evil. He just needs to hear from individual voters who care about public education. He needs to know what we as educators know about public schools. When you write "crap" that is so partisan, you effectively eliminate any hope of ever engaging the other side of the isle. No wonder we are viewed as liberal. Much of what this organization wants to do could not happen with out the 1.1 million republicans in our ranks, don't alienate us just as NEA is trying to actively reach out to us. (Bad article!!!!!)

I am a republican who is actively involved in politics and in this organization. I have gotten involved in both so that I could be of influence. To those of you that are offended by the policies of NEA, join in and change the agenda. We are the members and we have a say. The blog editor said that 2/3 of members are democrats, but I have been told by government relations that it is 1/3 independent, democrat and republicans.

I'm amazed at how uninformed commenters are on processes within NEA. Are all these commenters members or are most non-members?
I have been an NEA member for over 20 years. I have served on local governance boards, as a local president,on a state board, and on PACs. I have been registered to vote as a Republican and as a Democrat.
NEA uses dues dollars to inform members of decisions about recommended candidates for public office. NEA does not, and cannot by law, contribute to political candidates' campaigns. We do have PACs who take voluntary contributions from members. MEMBERS interview candidates and make recommendations at the state and local levels. We recommend both Republican and Democratic candidates. We ONLY ask questions related to education. Although I understand and respect members' views who consider other issues (like the partial birth abortion issue) NEA doesn't ask about those.
As for the Presidential election cycle, McCain never participated in the process, so even if he had pro-public education policies (which he doesn't) he couldn't be recommended to our members. Our delegates to the National Representative Assembly vote on who to recommend. It's very democratic. About 80% of the RA delegates voted to recommend Obama.
In terms of education policy I cannot fathom why anyone would expect NEA members to endorse McCain whose views are contrary to NEA positions (shaped by members). Biased? Yes, I suppose so. Biased for continued public support for education.

I would like to remind everyone that NCLB pass both the House and the Senate with only 43 votes against it. So both parties are to blame for the mess that NCLB has created. One good thing has resulted from NCLB we are now addressing the groups of students that were being ignored because they did not count on the accountability. I do not agree with everything that John McCain says, neither did I agree with everything that Obama or any other politician says. I vote based on several issues. However, everyone should vote what they believe. Regardless of who wins, in four days we will witness a rare event in this world, "The peaceful transfer of power." So everyone, please vote for the biggest reason of all. IF YOU DON'T VOTE, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR GOVERNMENT!"

This is amazing, I attended the national RA and all issues were related to education. The vote for Senator Obama was made by everyone in attendance with no pressure on selection. I am a registered republican but have researched - yes, researched the candidates and their positions and anyone who cares about the future of public education would never vote for the current republican candidate. It's easy to sit back and listen to the garbage and believe all the ridiculous accusations in the media but use your academic skills and learn where they stand and if you continue to support McCains educational plans - you truly are an idiot!

i'm responding to pat, the first individual to comment on oct. 29:

i too have problems with the partial birth abortion issue. . .while i agree with obama on many issues--i.e. ending the war, healthcare, the economy, education--i do not agree with this or with his stand on capital punishment. both concern me. AND i would like to learn more about his stand on both issues FIRST hand.

unfortunately, all i've heard is hype, nothing directly from obama. i heard that he voted against saving the life of the live birth newborn, and i also heard that he vote no on this because it was redundant--already covered legislation presently on the books, and didn't mean that he would not save the life of such a baby. i would like to know what obama's position really is, which version is truth.

if he indeed approves of allowing a baby that survives an abortion to die without measures to save its life, i feel that is flat wrong, and i'd send him back to school. if his vote is misleading due to other issues, then this could be another case of distortion by a rival to gain political advantage.

the other issues: of being a friend to terrorists, hating israel, and associatiing with a pastor who made a racist sounding remark, are all issues that have been grabbed and distorted by his opponents. slanted spin, feeding fear, in order to discredit obama and gain votes.

all of us know folks that we love, admire, tolerate, or associate with for certain reasons, and disagree with for other reasons. anyone can dig up dirt and make it look even dirtier, especially if it makes the digger look clean.

i personally have lots of people with whom i associate. i have many more that were once close friends. some i no longer see, because i lost respect or trust or outgrew them.

just because i currently have or have in the past had, among my many friends and acquaintances, one or two who have unsavory aspects to their character, doesn't mean that i am that way, or that i would follow or even approve of their path. indeed, i see value in a diverse group of friends--especially as an adult, and especially as a politician, whose job it is to have an in depth understanding of many sorts of people--not just a narrow slice of folk who all believe the same thing.

yes, our hope is that our children and students, in their formative years, will be careful about choices of friend and peer group. we don't want them to suffer by tagging along with drug dealers and bullies, and being influenced to turn into drug dealers and bullies.

but we are not talking about kids. we are talking about adults.hopefully we can trust these adults to make good choices and to be grounded and stable.

sincerely, d greenway

To Mary Davis:
You said "I think NCLB was begun because
Bush's friend happened to have a publishing
company. "

Perhaps you forgot that it was Senator Kennedy that authored NCLB. Maybe you also forgot that more democrats than republicans initially voted for NCLB.

You and the NEA need to check your crackpot theories. I am leaving the NEA after my membership expires. I am joining the AAE because they don't waste my time or money for political propoganda.,

Does the NEA support predominantly Democratic candidates? Yes.
Do Politicians have their own agendas? Yes.
Do most Republican agendas include rich getting richer? Yes.
Are most Democratic agendas liberal? Yes.
Do more liberals and democrats support education? Yes.
Are these all gross overgeneralizations? Yes!

Seriously people, do your research and vote for who you agree with the most. If as an educator there are things you value more than the quality of your profession, then so be it.

However, the NEA's goal is look at one issue and one issue only. Education. Not abortion. Not Foreign policy. Education. As a non-partisan citizen, I'm tired of hearing Republican teachers complain about the NEA. If you don't like it, go to your republican conventions and your anti-abortion organizations. If you want to hear about education issues then look to the NEA and stop whining. Seriously!

There have been some very good comments in this blog both for and against both Presidential candidates. From 1994 until 2008 I worked as a financial advisor for two national investment firms. When I was working my way through college and graduate school I felt that education needed to work like the business world. I felt that competition among schools who force the good schools to rise to the top and sort out the underperforming schools in the process.

However, as an educator since the fall of 2005 I have been singing a very different tune. We have to serve all kinds of students. We cannot throw out our "defects" as business often do. We have a responsibility to American society to take each and every student and educate them to function as productive citizens to the best of THEIR abilities.

Private school vouchers do not espouse this responsibility. They will leave a huge gap between the haves and have-nots that is even wider than what we have right now. John McCain's education policies are completely wrong for American schools. However, one man does not make education policy at the federal level. Congress holds the strings to the federal purse. The 10th amendment severely limits the power of the federal government in public education and for good reason. Public education control and financing should be controlled at the local level with as little federal intervention possible. There must be, however, some federal intervention to ensure ALL students receive an equal education.

Just as Wall Street collapsed from the deregulation of the industry because of Glass-Steagall passed by Congress in the late 1990's (a majority of you reading this will have no clue what this act was), public education must not suffer a similar fate. But, remember, Congress controls the power to do this, not the President. Obama is the strongest on education but is wrong in many others.

I want to determine where my charitable dollars go. I want to support charities who teach people "How to fish" so they can eat for a lifetime rather than "Give them a fish." so they can eat for a day. There are 40% of Americans that pay no taxes and receive a check every year for money they have not earned but that some other family had to give away that worked hard for it.

We need a President who has military experience, can face even the most trying of circumstances and one that can stand up to the crowd and do what is right regardless of the popularity of the decision.

I am a registered Democrat. I voted for fiscall conservative and socially moderate candidates. We cannot vote for someone who has never been tested under pressure. We cannot elect a man who sits in a church for 20 years listening divisive hate-filled speech. Obama wants to be a uniter but by his very associations he shows that not to be the case.

As I read through these posts I see several that are from alleged educators and NEA members. If this is the quality of educators in our schools today we are in more trouble than we know. I see so many teachers that would NEVER be able to handle working in the "real" world so they stay in education. Unfortunately, the system is set up to enable this to happen.

Most of the posts here are written very well but several were written so poorly, reading them was like fingernails on the chalk board. These people teach our children? Wake up, if you want socialism, "spread the wealth" is how it begins. It soon becomes stronger with "universal health care" and culminates with the government running every aspect of daily life. We can not allow our government to erased and redrawn because lazy Americans want money from those who actually work for it.

Where did this information come from? I'd like to personally review the sources.

I hate the saying if you don't vote then you don't have the right to complain. What about the children to young to vote that always seem to get the short end of the stick. Homeless vetrens that gave their life so you could own your own car, house, computer. They don't always get to vote. But like everyone else they all have the right of free speech. I'm supporting McCain. That is my choice and you only show ignorance if you say I'm an idiot for choosing to vote for someone who I can most align my values. Someone who was willing to walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk. Don't vote based on hype and deception. Vote based on values and morals. We don't need another Clinton "screwing" with the image the world has for America. I think we need to support a true American Hero. Vote for McCain, he is honestly the better choice over Obama.

NCLB's testing was promoted to reward the McGraw family. They are old family friends of the Bush clan. Kenndy did support NCLB because Bush made a lot of funding promises in getting the bill passed that he later failed to live up to. This is all documented in Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose.
As a historian I know that there are times of great corruption in every society and government. We are experiencing such a time in the US right now. The the Republicans, lead by Bush and McCain, are the leading proponents of government by bribery. I will be voting for Obama. My high school age daughter, who can't yet vote, will be working all day to get out the vote. And we know that education and economic justice are much more important than the creed of greed promoted by McCain.

As a Republican, who usually votes conservative, I can't bring myself to vote for a man who met his current wife and actively pursued a relationship with her while married to his former wife. A man, whose current wife willingly admits to the press that they both found out they had lied to each other about age when they applied for their marriage license. But, I do believe that a man who lies to both his wives, has some moral sketchiness, and still portrays himself as a conservative Christian is a little bit messed up. Now, I am mother of four, registered Republican (I proudly voted for Bush), give to PAC (for Republicans who support education), and would never vote for Hillary. I am voting for Obama. I do not agree with his abortion stance, but one man cannot change that. One man can veto and demand an overhaul of the flawed NCLB law. I teach 3rd grade. I have had 100% of my full academic year students pass that high stakes test for 2 years straight. Even though one has puked right after we finished, and another child peed in his pants during it. I work in a 100% Title 1 school. Five years ago we were on the bad list, but we made it off. The remedy: a whole bunch of teachers who care & work 50+ hour weeks, and who are underpaid. In my state, the first year teacher makes less that $30,000 a year. I am in debt, and if my husband lost his job, we would be on welfare using only my salary. If Obama can help raise pay, I'll vote for him. The Republicans in my state say teachers make too much for a part time job that anyone could do. John McCain has pretty much said he would replace me with a soldier from the war zone. Heads up, I have taught in the war zones of our inner city ghettos, we don't receive hazard pay, or a living wage. Soldiers won't like it, and kids will suffer. I have my own four children in public schools and more than 120 former students who I care about surviving and succeeding the public school system. I've yet to see a Republican Candidate make it out of the primaries that will support education. So in turn, I'm breaking the party line in desperation and voting democrat.
Troops to Teachers- That's McCain's plan, pretty scary to me!

I for one will be canceling my nea membership. I cannot support Obama for president. Our views are different and I don't even a nickle of my hard earned money to support your views.

Clearly the NEA would be bias towards a candidate who has highlighted his interest in education. NEA as an organization values education.

Additionally, we all have different interests, backgrounds, beliefs and most importantly values that influence who we vote for. Just because you don't share the same values as a candidate doesn't mean that other people are naive for agreeing with them. When people are supporting Obama or McCain it doesn't mean that they agree with 100% of the things that candidate says 100% of the time, so please don't go criticizing others critical thinking or decision making skills based on their endorsement for a specific candidate. I am confident that most educators can see both sides to the situation and regardless to our opinions and the opinions of others, have synthesized the information they have received to make their decisions.

We should be embracing the diversity in America not attacking people for thinking differently than ourselves.

Another who will be cancelling my NEA membership.
Also will start paying non-union dues.

I know how dangerous Mcain's plan is because I am a special education teaching assistant! I can barely make ends meet and now if he gets his way I will be taking home less money than I did three years ago. As a single mom of two children and one grandchild who is on expensive medication as well as myself ( My medication is more than I can afford every month)I really do not know what to do next. McCain is making it impossible for me to get a second job to supplement the teaching position!!I really cannot stand John McCain!

I should note that government deregulation did not cause the market meltdown and it was not a failure of the free market.

Yes vouchers are typically lower than private school tuition. It is done that way by politicians to discourage people from taking the voucher. Private schools, however, are on average cheaper than the cost of educating a student at a public school.

Nice wordsmithing though.

I recall when McCain took the position that he would favor shutting down the Department of Education. In fact, I would support greater federal involvment in a standardized national school curriculm.

Hving been a Republican most of my life, in recent years it's lost it's moorings and it's true conservatives.

I do find most of McCain's policy proposals disturbing. Under the Bush administration and Republican control we have already lost teachers, subjects have disappeared, services have been significantly reduced, and too much time is lost to "teaching the test."

Today's Republicans have been no friend to public education, left in their hands we'd be teaching bible stories in place of science, and distrust and bigotry towards our neighbors. Their unfunded mandates have only damaged financially struggling schools, and that's why the majority of people in education are Democrats.

McCain's plan IS scary, and until the Republican party returns to it's centrist origins and wrests power from it's radicals, I hope the NEA continues to support Democrats.

The general tenor of the comments, above, brings to mind a disturbing trend among the educators that I know, an unthinking willingness to promulgate the party line at the expense of fair and honest discussion of issues and a relentless search for the truth behind the propaganda. As teachers who may have influence on other people (especially little people) we have an obligation to question unverified allegations, to suspend belief until evidence is presented, to live up to the obligation to eliminate misconceptions and half-truths in our practice.

I have been active in the union, helping to negotiate our last two contracts and serving as a representative over the past 6 years. Attendance at two state conventions, however, has shown me that the primary business of union gatherings is furtherance of the union, and membership concerns, such as legal issues are often subordinate to union concerns.

The perception is widespread that the union does not effectively advocate for its members, and I believe that this is partially true. As evidence, I offer that our state organization sought a $25 fee from all members (without a vote of the membership!) to promote a statewide initiative--as a result, donations to the Fund for Children and Public Education declined precipitously over the past 2 years.

The NEA is not a perfect organization, but its positions in national and regional issues are largely a reflection of the interests of the people who are most involved in its administration. If the union's positions are not in accordance with your own views, the best option is to get more involved in the union so as to effectively change it from within.