February 15, 1997
by
Charles W. Baird
Politics and the Schoolhouse Door
On February 4, 1997, in his State of the Union speech, President Clinton asked the US Congress to have politics stop at the schoolhouse door. For that to happen the NEA will have to be banned from all schoolhouses.
The National Education Association (NEA) initiated its national political activities in 1969-70 when it actively, and successfully, campaigned against the confirmation of two Nixon appointees to the US Supreme Court -- Clement F. Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell -- on the grounds that their civil rights records suggested they would abridge "the rights of every school child" My guess is that the NEA took this stance more because of its developing alliance with the civil rights movement than because of any legitimate educational concern. The nominations were withdrawn.
The NEA's appetite for political influence at the national level had been whetted. In 1972 it set up NEA-PAC, and endorsed thirty-two candidates in the House and Senate races of that year. In 1974 it endorsed 282 House and Senate candidates; in 1976, 247 candidates. 1976 was also the first time that the NEA endorsed a presidential candidate -- Jimmy Carter. In 1979 President Carter rewarded the NEA for its support by giving it its own cabinet department, the Department of Education. The NEA has endorsed a candidate in every subsequent presidential election, and they all have been Democrats. Similarly, almost all of the House and Senate candidates the NEA has endorsed since 1972 have been Democrats. This is not because no teachers are Republicans -- almost forty percent are -- it is because the Democrats have promised to sustain the public school monopoly. NEA endorsements come with NEA money, and NEA money comes largely from forced dues. The bottom line is that the almost forty percent of NEA teachers who are Republicans are coerced into supporting Democrats at election time.
The overwhelming partisan bias of the NEA is illustrated by Federal Election Commission data on the 1995-96 election cycle as of 11/25/96. Total contributions of NEA-PAC to US Senate Democratic candidates were $255,000; to Senate Republican candidates, $1,500. Total contributions of NEA-PAC to US House Democratic candidates were $2,038,180; to House Republican candidates, $10,350. Total contributions of NEA-PAC contributions to national and state party committees were $459,900, of which only $45,000 went to Republican committees. (All these data are from the FEC's Internet homepage: http://www.tray.com/fecinfo. They do not include PAC contributions by NEA state and local affiliates.) It is not for nothing that William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education in the Reagan cabinet, says of the NEA, "You're looking at the absolute heart and center of the Democratic Party" (quoted in Forbes, 6/7/93, p. 74).
The table below lists all twenty-seven of the organizations upon which Congress had conferred real and personal property tax exemptions as of October 30, 1995. The list was compiled by the office of Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) in a response on that date to a constituent's inquiry about the NEA's real and personal property tax exemption. When I compared this list with a list of all federally chartered organizations compiled for me by the Humanities and Social Science Division of the Library of Congress, I discovered that only fourteen of these tax-exempt organizations are federally chartered. Apparently, Congress grants real and personal property tax exemptions to some groups that are not federally chartered as well as those that are.
Organizations Upon Which Congress Has Conferred Real and Personal Property Tax Exemptions as of October 30, 1995
Organization Federally Chartered
American Association of University Women Educational Foundation no
American Chemical Society yes
American Forestry Association no
American Historical Association yes
American Institute of Architects Foundation no
American Legion yes
American Pharmaceutical Association no
AMVETS yes
Army Distaff Foundation no
Association for Childhood Education no
B'nai B'rith no
Brookings Institution no
Carnegie Institution of Washington DC yes
Daughters of the American Revolution yes
General Federation of Women's Clubs no
Jewish War Veterans yes
Medical Society of the District of Columbia yes
National Academy of Sciences yes
National Education Association yes
National Geographic Society no
National Guard Association of the US no
National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution yes
National Trust for Historic Preservation yes
National Woman's Party no
Supreme Council 33 Scottish Rite no
Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art yes
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the US yes
Other than the NEA, only one organization on this list, the American Pharmaceutical Association (APA), had a PAC and made political donations to political candidates in the 1995-96 election cycle. Given the significant burden of federal government regulation of pharmaceuticals through the Food and Drug Administration, it is easy to see why the APA is more politically involved than, say, the National Geographic Society. The APA donated $46,250 to Democratic Senate candidates; $34,250 to Republican Senate candidates; $48,000 to Democratic House candidates; and $42,550 to Republican House candidates. When you recall that the NEA figures were $255,300, $1,500, $23,038,180, and $10,350 respectively, you have to admit that by comparison the APA donates very little and is bipartisan in its giving. Again, the NEA is in a class all by itself among organizations favored by Congress with real and personal property tax exemptions.
A necessary, albeit probably not sufficient, condition for depoliticizing American public education is getting the NEA out of the picture. Stripping it of its federal charter and its real and personal property tax exemption would be good first steps.