Approximately 550 educators are on fall election ballots, the National Education Association, a teachers union, claimed Monday, following a national survey of federal, state, and local elections.
The union attributed the strong showing to a series of teachers’ strikes and walkouts for higher wages earlier in the year in states like Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
“What we are witnessing is not a moment but a movement by educators running for office to fight for the public schools our students deserve,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia. “Now, in the wake of historic walkouts and school actions, we have a chance to leave our mark and elect to office public education champions who will raise their voices and fight for our students and public education.”
Unions have been touting the walkouts, many of which took state lawmakers by surprise, as proof of a new level of activism and engagement by their rank-and-file members following years of tight budgets and stagnant wages. Garcia and other union leaders said that they have led directly to a surge in candidates for office this year.
The NEA figure includes union and nonunion educators and broadly defines teacher to include school administration and support staff.
