The changing nature of teacher unions.

At the Atlanta NEA RA we will be voting on a Constitutional change that if passed would end the practice of having a prescribed percentage of teachers on any body or committee of our union.

This may appear to the outsider as pretty inside stuff.

But this organizational change is but a small reflection of the changes that are going on inside both national teacher unions.

The changes are significant.

It is visible back home in Chicago where the CTU’s African-American membership has dropped from over 50% a decade ago to under 20% now.

The change is visible as more classrooms have none-certified staff in them. More students are directly cared for by educational employees who are not professional teachers.

In the sixties the NEA changed from being an organization that was mainly run by administrators to one that was run by teachers. As a result rules were established that required teachers make up 75% of any union committee. It was a rule created in order to ensure teacher voice.

Today the number of certified teachers has declined as a percentage of NEA membership to around 72%. The remaining 28% are educational support staff (ESPs), bus drivers, secretaries and other district employees. The NEA has also expanded into higher education, adjunct college teachers as well as pre-K teachers. The number of non-certified teachers as a percentage of NEA membership will only increase.

The vote on the Constitutional amendment ending teacher quotas for union committees may seem narrow and structural. But it reflects a field of work that has fewer certified teachers, more non-certified staff consisting of large numbers of minorities and fewer teachers of color.