This summer, the National Education Association will elect a new president to lead its nearly 3 million members. Few organizations have more influence over educators’ lives and livelihoods. That’s why, as a New Jersey teacher suing one prominent candidate for the position, I have a warning for teachers everywhere: choose wisely.

From 2013 to 2025, Sean Spiller helped lead the New Jersey Education Association, an NEA affiliate union that represents me and roughly 200,000 other educators and support staff. Spiller worked his way from secretary-treasurer, to vice president, to president, and left office this past September. To teachers outside New Jersey, his recently announced run for NEA president must seem only natural—the next step for a rising star.