Boom times at the NEA

By Jim Stergios
June 15th, 2009

From our man in Education Havana, Mike Antonucci, sleuth extraordinaire, gives us some numbers on why the recession cannot be said to have hit everybody equally.

Proposed Budget Shows No Recession at NEA Headquarters. The economy may be staggering along, the labor movement may be facing financial problems, but the National Education Association continues to let the good times roll.

The proposed 2009-10 NEA budget forecasts $355.8 million in revenue, an increase of $10 million over this year. The headlines warn us of massive teacher layoffs across the nation, but NEA modified its projection of new teacher members upward. Originally expecting an increase of 5,000 new teacher members for 2009-10, the latest proposed budget now predicts 7,000 new teacher members.

At the NEA these are boom times.

Virtually every NEA program will receive more funding, and spending on salaries and benefits for employees will increase 7.7%, even though the union is funding five fewer positions than in 2008-09.

The budget was put together prior to reaching a tentative contract with NEA’s staff union, but it already provided for salary/benefit expenditures of more than $118 million for a staff of 555.

So much for shared sacrifice.