Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News
The National Education Association voted to spend $140,625 to research and compile a list of groups’ funding sources, the leaders that have “connections to known entities that are seeking to dismantle public education, organization headquarters, and chapter locations.”
The group passed a resolution during the annual Representative Assembly in Chicago allocating the funds to conduct opposition research on 25 organizations that have allegedly attacked ideals the group holds dear, such as gender identity and sexual orientation freedoms in public schools.
“NEA shall compile research to create fact sheets about the largest 25 organizations that are actively working to diminish a students’ right to honesty in education, freedom of sexual and gender identify, and teacher autonomy,” the resolution said. The research, once compiled, will be sent to state affiliates so that they can be “armed with information to organize against attacks on public education.”
“They’re not just trying to change culture, they’re trying to change what it means to be human,” a retired union member, Jeralee Smith, claimed in a statement to Fox News Digital. “They have no ability to tolerate somebody who doesn’t agree with them.”
Nicole Neily of Parents Defending Education responded to the news of the NEA’s opposition research, telling Fox News Digital that she believes the resolution is cause for concern: “It’s not surprising that the unions would compile an ‘enemies list,'” she said.
“[The NEA’s] policies are deeply unpopular with average American families – and, I suspect, with many of their rank-and-file membership – which means that they must enforce their ideology through bullying and intimidation. We will not be bullied, we will not be cowed, and we will not be silenced – we will continue to advocate for our children because the past two years have made it abundantly clear that children’s welfare is the union’s absolute last priority.”
Another troubling resolution for many was NBI 13 which earmarked $9,000 for defending teachers and school administrators who advocated for the Palestinian narrative “when they are under attack.” Critics have said the resolution has “anti-Israel” and “antisemitic” implications.
“The NEA will now be establishing protocols to support their teachers who face backlash when using one-sided, factually inaccurate sources that question Israel’s right to exist. The NEA’s singling out and holding to a different standard the sole Jewish country is blatantly antisemitic. This is greatly concerning not only for Jewish NEA members, but also the many Jewish students, and all students, who will have these teachers pushing their antisemitic agenda in their classrooms,” Rebecca Schgallis of United Against Antisemitism in Northern Virginia told Fox News Digital.
Elana Fishbein of No Left Turn in Education also weighed in on the union’s decision, calling the decision tantamount to Jew-hatred: “For the NEA to even permit these anti-Israel issues to be included among its new business items is antisemitic and reprehensible. They should be focusing their energy on strategies to improve student academic performance, instead of making foolish political statements,” she said.
The union also passed NBI 41 which stated that the NEA would take “all necessary steps” to overturn Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, ensuring “anti-LGBTQ+ legislation” would be resisted at all costs. The law was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in March and restricted teachers from introducing topics of gender identity and sexual orientation to K-3rd grade students.