Here we are at the end of 2024, looking ahead to 2025. This is the time of year when we reflect on the previous twelve months and anticipate what we will face starting in January.
The last time I remember positive reporting in the media about educators and public education was during the Covid crisis. We were held up and praised for our dedication to our students. Finally, through crisis, the public seemed to understand and appreciate just what it takes to educate a child. Those times held the promise of ongoing support and appreciation for educators.
But, when school buildings re-opened, something changed. The change was not our dedication and commitment to our students. Suddenly providing safe spaces for children became a negative. Groups were organized to lobby school boards to remove books and to ban our students from reading about the true history of America. Our Commissioner of Education lobbied to allow uncertified and unqualified people to be teachers. He made it a mission to divert public tax dollars to religious and private schools. All while giving money to parents to pay for private school tuition when they had previously never sent their children to public school. Demean, degrade, and defund is the mantra for those who oppose public education.
Looking forward, it’s not going to get better. In Washington, we fully expect attempts to enact portions of Project 2025 which include trying to eliminate the Federal Department of Education. While this would require an act of Congress, we are concerned that major dedicated programs like Title I or Special Education could get “block granted” to states who would use such critical funds in other ways.
These present times require us, more than ever, to speak out and show up. We are the experts. No matter what your job in the school system, you know what it takes to educate a child, to support them and to prepare them to succeed. No matter your job title, you know more than any politician in Concord or in Washington what actually happens in our schools.
Your expertise is required to fend off these attacks and preserve public education. What matters is your commitment to public education and to your students regardless of your politics. We are an association of over 16,000 individuals and while we are not united on every issue, we are united by our work to educate future generations.
NEA-NH will be informing you and asking you for your help and your energy this next year. Please answer our calls to lobby your legislators. Write letters and emails. Leave messages. Corner them in the grocery store. Do what it takes to educate them about your profession. It does work. We can win.
We will win.