Mike Antonucci at EIA reports that 22 NEA state affiliates have fewer members than they did in 1994. However, New Jersey Education Association is one of seven state affiliates that he considers “reliably strong.” The other six are California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington. Mike adds, “absent a remarkable change in fortunes, NEA will start to resemble AFT in that it will have well-defined strongholds (as AFT has in major city school systems) and be virtually invisible elsewhere.”
This diminution in strength can be seen, by the way, in the way that Congressional Democrats, even those typically regarded as progressive and liberal, disregarded NEA’s demand for “nay” votes on the Murphy Amendment (see here).
