The Right Conservative News Sites | Right Side News

The following excerpts are from the July 2010 publication, Advancing NEA's Legislative Program, and reflect the marching orders for NEA lobbyists seeking to influence Congress and the White House. The union has 600 employees and the ability to generate thousands of emails and phone calls from its members to influence legislators.

NEA Supports:

1. Amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to grant states flexibility to waive annual required testing
2. Mandatory full-day kindergarten attendance for children, and the federal resources necessary to do so
3. Legislation to reduce or eliminate tuition costs in public higher education
4. Providing financial assistance sufficient to enable all students to pay for college tuition, textbooks, and appropriate expenses
5. Access to quality prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care services [for school children who have children]
6. Total federal assumption of the cost and operation of welfare programs based on standards of human dignity
7. Repeal of the so-called right-to-work provision of federal labor law
8. A tax-supported, single-payer health care plan for all residents of the U.S., its territories, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
9. Provision of federal funds for the education of undocumented workers, immigrants, refugees, and members of the diplomatic community
10. Federal programs that provide information to students to improve understanding about different sexual orientations
11. Legislation that would prohibit religious organizations that accept federal funding from discriminating in hiring on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or HIV/AIDS status
12. The use of affirmative action to redress historical discrimination
13. Legislation to study possible reparations to African Americans to address the past and residual effects of slavery in America
14. Statehood for the District of Columbia
15. A national holiday honoring César Chávez

NEA Opposes:

1. Tuition tax credits for elementary or secondary schools
2. Use of vouchers in education
3. Federally mandated parental option or "choice" in education programs
4. Denying federal student aid funds to college students based on their immigration status
5. Denying federal financial aid to college students who have been convicted of misdemeanor, nonviolent drug offenses
6. The use of draft registration as an eligibility criterion for financial assistance
7. The testing of teachers as a criterion for job retention, promotion, tenure, or salary increments
8. Federal legislation that denies children's access to public education or health care based on their citizen/documentation status
9. Any legislation or constitutional amendment designating English as the official language of the United States
10. The utilization of voter ID cards for the privilege of voting in local, state, and national elections
11. Privatization of social security