House Republicans renew effort to repeal charter for NEA education union
House Republican lawmakers are introducing legislation to repeal the charter for the National Education Association that “removes Congress’s congressional seal of approval” from the organization.The NEA was chartered in 1906 and is the only congressionally chartered labor union. However, the National Education Association Charter Repeal Act, sponsored by Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC), would revoke that charter, as Republicans argue the organization has “morphed into a mouthpiece for left-wing extremism.”
“Our kids deserve classrooms that educate, not brainwash,” Harris said during a Wednesday presser unveiling the bill. “There’s zero justification for the United States Congress to continue giving them our stamp of approval.”
This is not the first attempt by lawmakers to repeal the NEA’s charter. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) and now-Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced the legislation in 2022, and former Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Good sponsored the bill in the 118th Congress. Both times, it never passed out of committee.
Republicans have said the NEA has “abandoned” its core mission, which is detailed in the charter as elevating “the character and advancing the interests of the profession of teaching and promoting the cause of education in the United States.”