Today's teachers unions are no longer concerned with just employee benefits issues. Through their collective bargaining power, the unions maintain de facto control of budgetary and management issues that appear beyond their influence and are thought to be controlled by school boards and administrators. In Boston, for example, even the slightest changes in the length of the school year could not be made without changing the union's contract. From hiring and firing to curriculum, and from money to testing, the teachers unions wield incredible power over how and by whom the schools are run. And that's just for starters.

        The National Education Association (NEA) is not only the largest teachers union in the country, but the largest labor union in the world, period. At over 2.2 million members, it is nearly three times as large as the 850,000-member American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Together these two teachers unions create a network of influence that reaches into every state, city and school district in the nation. Nearly 70 percent of the nation's public school teachers are members of either the NEA or the AFT. Both groups are highly organized, highly active national political organizations that can muster unprecedented grass roots access — neither the Republican nor the Democratic national party can compare in political muscle. Boasts the NEA, "We are the only organization in the United States with a nationwide, broad-based pool of education advocates in every precinct." Nearly one of every eight delegates at the 1992 Democratic National Convention was an NEA member.

        The national, state and local education associations work in concert, with little variety in their issues or agendas. The NEA is at work in the very heart of each community. The local union affiliate can sway the community with well-organized and well-funded opposition to reform. When they perceive a threat, the state organizations will charge members extra dues for their politicking. California teachers were assessed $63 each to help pay for the campaign against school choice Proposition 174. The Michigan Education Association, in its fight against school reform legislation passed in December 1993, assessed its members $90 each and enlisted two teachers from each district, in addition to its 11 full-time lobbyists, to lobby state legislators against the bill. At its July, 1994, annual convention it took the NEA only three and a half days to raise half a million dollars for its Political Action Committee from less than 10,000 delegates.

        It is important to understand just how removed the NEA is from the interests of the people. The national network is organized out of the Washington, D.C., headquarters where hundreds of staffers coordinate state and local affairs. Its staff is visible in the halls of Congress and in state capitals. Its driving motivation has always been more money: the NEA says it wants no less than 10% of the federal budget to go for education. It says schools are underfunded and teachers are underpaid, but the agenda is not limited to helping teachers get paid more. Communities want their good teachers paid well and they are in some cases, regardless of the NEA. What the NEA demands is more money for programs that it — "the experts" — thinks are good, but that are often at odds with what a community wants or needs. Promoting programs from bilingual education to gender equity, the NEA has successfully manipulated your tax dollars with no regard for whether these programs work.

        Every year at its summer convention, NEA delegates vote on what to do about everything from the environment to abortion to foreign policy. The NEA "congressional contact team" interviews and monitors both candidates and elected officials to measure how well they meet NEA criteria on issues ranging from health care to civil rights. The NEA boasts of its power to affect elections and, in most states, union leaders serve in elected or appointed positions, including local and state boards of education, as well as advisory committee posts.

        The other teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, is headed by Albert Shanker. Working with approximately 850,000 members, Shanker is somewhat more visionary than most, and he is someone who can be just as often for good reforms as against them. His independence also makes the affiliates a little more independent, but they still generally flex their muscles by fighting reforms that upset the current power structure.

        Soon we may not have to differentiate between the two largest teacher unions, because they are talking of a merger. Together, the resulting union would be more than twice as big as the next largest labor organization in the country. Formed in the name of "consistency" in organization and direction, the new behemoth would surely continue to support the status quo. That is why it is important for states and communities to take back their schools now.

        The political dynamics have begun to change. In 1994, nearly all the newly elected state governors were not endorsed by the NEA and its allies. The composition of many state legislatures changed to reflect less union-dictated views, and as a result of several U.S. Senate races, the NEA lost ground.

        There is further evidence that the NEA's power is waning. Even candidates who were targeted by the NEA for defeat for their views on school reform have won at the ballot box. The NEA's $500,000 allocation at its annual conference aimed at defeating reform Governor John Engler of Michigan failed to have any impact. Arizona's State Superintendent of Schools, Lisa Graham, was opposed by the union but won her race handily. And the Idaho Education Association readily admitted that "it took a beating" when Dr. Anne Fox became Idaho's new superintendent. While beatable, however, the NEA is no weak opponent.

        The NEA and the AFT are national organizations, and their affiliates are in control throughout the states. Baltimore, Maryland and New York state, for instance, are mostly under the AFT umbrella, while California and Minnesota are mostly NEA. There are other state and local teacher organizations that don't affiliate with either of the big two, such as the Missouri State Teachers Association and the Mississippi Professional Educators, but these are the exceptions to the rule.