What is the NEA?
NEA is a volunteer-based organization supported by a network of staff at the local, state, and national levels. At the local level, more than 14,000 NEA local affiliate organizations are active in a variety of activities as determined by the local members. These may range from raising funds for scholarship programs to conducting professional workshops on issues that affect faculty and school support staff to bargaining contracts for school district employees. At the state level, NEA affiliate activities are equally wide-ranging. NEA state affiliates, for instance, regularly lobby legislators for the resources schools need, campaign for higher professional standards for the teaching profession, and file legal actions to protect academic freedom and the rights of school employees. At the national level, from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NEA lobbies Congress and federal agencies on behalf of its members and public schools, supports and coordinates innovative projects, works with
