The annual meeting typically takes place during the final week of June and the first week of July. Various committees, constituencies, caucuses, leadership groups, and delegates from state and local affiliates gather to set policy and chart the direction of NEA business. It is the primary legislative and policymaking body of the Association and derives its powers from, and is responsible to, the membership.
The Representative Assembly adopts the strategic plan and budget, resolutions, the Legislative Program, and other policies of the Association. Delegates vote by secret ballot on proposed amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws. Those delegates with full voting rights elect the executive officers, Executive Committee members, and at-large members of the NEA Board of Directors, as appropriate.
2023 NEA RA - Orlando, FL
NEA’s annual meeting and Representative Assembly is scheduled for July 2-6, 2023!
Join thousands of educators to debate the vital issues impacting public education and set NEA policy and activities for the year ahead. We can’t wait! This year, delegates will meet at the RA in person in Orlando, Florida. There will not be a virtual option. Suggested travel dates for delegates are July 1 – July 7. UEA has a block of rooms at the Wyndham Orlando Resort International. We invite you to take a look and get excited.
The UEA RA Coordination Team has finalized the hotel contract, room cost is set at $168/night. The price is the same for single and double rooms. Double occupancy is encouraged and single occupancy is available on a limited basis. Rooms cannot be guaranteed until payment is remitted in full.
UEA will not be hosting a state activity. Participants are invited to enjoy the nearby attractions.
IMPORTANT DEADLINE: APRIL 11, 2023
UniServ or local presidents MUST submit delegate and housing forms to Michelle Dansie (michelle.dansie@myuea.org) no later than April 11, 2023. Please plan accordingly with your local Spring Break. NEA emailed Delegate forms to local presidents at their non-work email. If you did not receive your form, please click this link for more information regarding delegate allocation. Due to time constraints with NEA, the UEA RA Coordination Team will not accept late registrations. Please reach out to the team, we are here to help. As we are all working virtually, email works best.
Among the 6,000 educators convening for the 2022 National Education Association Representative Assembly were 90 delegates representing NEA members from Utah. The 2022 Representative Assembly was held in-person in Chicago July 3-6 with a virtual participation option available. Nearly 70 delegates elected to participate in person.
Back and Better than Ever
NEA President Becky Pringle praises delegates for being “courageous and creative, prepared and persistent.”
By: Cindy Long, NEA Today Senior Writer
After two years of the pandemic, delegates to the 2022 NEA Representative Assembly (RA) were finally back in person, with about 6,000 members from around the country convening on July 3 – 6 in Chicago, with a remote option. There was a feeling of renewal and celebration after another difficult year. As delegates gathered, they felt restored by the hope, energy, and determination of their union to come back better and stronger than ever.
The challenges facing educators, students, and communities today are real and many, Pringle acknowledged. They include crippling educator shortages, a lack of professional pay, an ongoing assault on curricula that honestly confront this nation’s history of racism and openly celebrate LGBTQ+ people.
But NEA members continue to stand strong and embrace their role as the voice of education professionals, she told the RA delegates.
“You have found a way to resist, even as you hold onto joy. Courageous and creative,” she said. “Prepared and persistent. You stand in the power of NEA—and NEA stands in the power that is you!”
Educators Fight for Freedom
In her address to delegates, Executive Director Kim Anderson said students are counting on educators to stand up for our freedom—and that it starts with the work that teachers and education support professionals (ESPs) do every day in their schools.
“You read books; you don’t ban them. You teach the truth about our history; you don’t deny it. You protect our children’s safety, not the gunmakers’ profits. You see our children as they are; you don’t deny their identities,” Anderson said before the energized crowd. Just hours earlier, the assembly had passed an inspiring new policy statement on Safe, Just, and Equitable Schools, which further asserts NEA’s dedication to forging a better future for all students.
RA Delegates Vote to Continue Critical Work on Safety, Equity and Justice
The delegates approved the policy statement in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic, as students, educators, and communities face politicians and institutions that are taking away freedoms and rights, brushing off a growing gun violence epidemic, attempting to divide communities by race and place, and increasing restrictions on what educators can teach and what students can learn.
The new NEA policy statement continues to build on the ongoing racial and social justice work of the association. In 2021, RA delegates approved a measure, NBI-A, that established a task force to identify criteria for safe, just, and equitable schools. Over the course of a year, the task force met to research, gather evidence, and consult with educators and experts. The work involved engaging with national partners, state and local affiliates, racial justice advocates, allies, and community activists. NEA’s new policy statement is the result of that work and is guided by four core principles:
Adopt a restorative justice philosophy to create a school climate that rejects the criminalization and policing of students.
Provide training and support for culturally competent instruction.
Develop and implement plans to end disparities in disciplinary and behavioral practices.
Create a community-centered school environment to foster safe, positive environments and engage all members of the public school.
Educators are Essential to Children’s Future and the Future of American Democracy
“The president and I are counting on you to help us move forward as a nation, just as NEA has done throughout its history,” Harris said. The vice president recounted key moments in NEA advocacy, such as when the organization protected Black teachers in school districts that defied desegregation in the 1950s; when NEA led the charge to lower the voting age to 18, in 1971; and when, in 2012, NEA helped to pass DACA, the law that protects undocumented learners.
She said she realizes educators will face many challenges when they return to schools next year, and it may feel like they are the only ones who see what’s at stake. But she urged them to remember that the fight toward progress is not linear.
“You will go back and often be in a situation where it … feels like you might be the only one who sees what you’re seeing and understands what’s at stake. But let’s remember moments like this … and that the fight toward progress, by its very nature, is not linear,” Harris said. “Do not despair. Do not be overwhelmed. Do not throw up your hands when it is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
I Still Have Hope
The 2022 Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell is ready to roll up his sleeves. He has hope for what’s to come because he has faith in everything teachers embody.
“The foundation of this country and the greatness of this country begins with a teacher,” Russell said in his address to the RA. “Teachers are hope personified.”
Russell said he, like so many others, felt sad and depressed after a rash of horrific mass shootings, including the tragic loss of innocent lives in Uvalde, Texas. He was left wondering: How can we protect our students and teachers?
But he refused to remain in a state of despair. Inspired by the words on a T-shirt a friend gave him, he shared those same words in a social media post: “I still have hope.”
“I have hope in the millions of students that are courageous and bright and that will create a better world. I have hope in the millions of educators who provide love and normalcy to an unkind world. I have hope in the transformative power of education that can move the needle towards equity and justice.”
“As union members and leaders, we have the power to fight for the professional respect that all educators want and deserve,” says the Illinois education support professional.
