The National Education Association (NEA) has enlisted 10,000 of its three million members to help reelect Barack Obama, says NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.
"The
enthusiasm is there," Mr. Roekel told Reuters.
Last Wednesday, Mitt Romney took aim at teachers unions in a speech at the Latino Coalition’s Annual Economic Summit wherein he said:
The teachers unions are the clearest example of a group that
has lost its way. Whenever anyone dares to offer a new idea, the unions
protest the loudest.
Their attitude was memorably expressed by a long-time
president of the American Federation of Teachers: He said, quote, “When
school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start
representing the interests of children.”
The teachers unions don’t fight for our children. That’s our
job. And our job keeps getting harder because the unions wield outsized
influence in elections and campaigns. . .
The President can’t have it both ways: He can’t talk up
reform, while indulging the groups that block it. He can’t be the voice
of disadvantaged public-school kids, and the protector of special
interests.
President Obama has made his choice, and I have made mine:
As president, I will be a champion of real education reform in America,
and I won’t let any special interest get in the way.
We have to stop putting campaign cash ahead of our kids.
Last June, the NEA told Politico that it plans to spend at least $60 million to reelect Barack Obama.