NEA Taps Crisis Fund for Fight to Overturn Anti-Union Laws

Education Week reports:

The National Education Association has thrown its financial support behind an effort to overturn a series of new Idaho laws that weaken teachers' collective bargaining rights and job protections.

And the union's giving won't stop there.

The 3.2-million member union is likely to provide financial backing to a similar efforts in other states, including Ohio, the NEA's political director, Karen White, told me this week. In Idaho, the union contributed $75,000 to an attempt to gather enough signatures to have items placed on the ballot to overturn three laws recently approved by lawmakers. Those laws, which were backed by the state's Republican governor, C.L. "Butch" Otter and state schools chief Tom Luna, were strongly opposed by NEA's state affiliate. The laws put restrictions on collective bargaining and tenure and created a new merit pay system, among other provisions.

It's for the children.