The voice of teachers is not heard in Carson City during education policy debates and decisions. Yes, the NSEA postures itself as being that voice, but many concerns of teachers are not addressed by the union as it pursues its own narrow political agenda at the expense of educators. As long as we let the NSEA get away with pretending to speak for teachers, the rhetoric in the Legislature will remain irrelevant to the realities we see in the classroom.

Susan Graham raises this issue in Teacher Magazine and recognizes the isolation faced by teachers, but glaringly omits the leading reason in her article “Why We Need Teachers at the Policy Table.”

Graham writes, “We have lacked a common voice. The immediacy of the needs of our students tends to isolate us in our classrooms and limit our access to our colleagues.”

Many of us see the NSEA and its local affiliates as well as the administration benefiting and contributing to that isolation. In her conclusion Graham also states:

• “Education and educators deserve serious nuanced conversations, not quick sound bites and catchy headlines.”

• “Teachers are willing and able to help with the heavy lifting of improving the quality of American education. But far too often we are left out of the discussion, or even perceived as dysfunctional cogs in the education system.”

Both are true and will remain true until we break from the union paradigm that is not appropriate to our field and negatively defines us in the eyes of the public. We will be treated as professionals with a seat at the policy table when we no longer let the NSEA misrepresent our concerns. A major step in that direction is provided by the Association of American Educators (AAE), a non-union professional organization.

The AAE describes itself at www.aaeteachers.org as:

“The Association of American Educators is the largest national, non-union, professional teacher
association, offering educators an alternative to partisan politics and non-educational agendas of the teacher labor unions.”

Because the AAE is not involved in spending members’ dues for partisan agendas, they provide greater liability coverage for far less cost. AAE membership is $150 per year in contrast to NSEA annual dues of $600. Keep in mind you can only drop NSEA membership from July 1 to 10 in Clark County and July 1 to 15 in the other 16 counties.

The sooner educators recognize the union is the biggest hurdle for getting the professional respect they deserve; the sooner we will have a respected voice in education with a seat at the policy table.