By Mary Ellen Flannery / Photo Courtesy of Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Sipa USA For public educators, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a crisis, which they’re tackling through hard work, creativity, and communication with students and families. Educators are streaming lessons, delivering meals, and bridging gaps in technology—with enormous approval from parents. But for for-profit education businesses and proponents…
By Amanda Menas All students deserve a great public education no matter where they live, what language they speak at home, or how much money their parents have. But during times of crisis, education cuts loom that would have an outsized effect on students of color. But 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe…
NEA’s leaders meet regularly with congressional leaders to help build support for our positions on the issues. Last Wednesday, NEA President Lily Eskelsen García participated in a virtual briefing with some 30 senators, led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Patty Murray (D-WA), on the impact of COVID-19 on schools, students and educators—and what we…
Once again, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is making news for the wrong reasons. The headline of a New York Times story published on May 15—the same day the House passed the HEROES Act—sums it up this way: “DeVos Funnels Coronavirus Relief Funds to Favored Private and Religious Schools.” The ensuing story describes how she is…
Senate Republican leadership is in no rush to take up—or even amend—the HEROES Act passed by the House despite the urgent need to help struggling families cope with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The longer Congress delays, the greater the likelihood we’ll see a repeat of the Great Recession, during which financially strapped state and…