‘Indoctrinating Our Children With Toxic Propaganda’: GOP Lawmakers Aim to Repeal Teachers Union’s Congressional Charter

Republican members of Congress are working to strip the National Education Association of its congressional “stamp of approval.”  

“The National Education Association’s time is over,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said at a press conference Wednesday in unveiling his legislation to strip the teachers union of its congressional charter. 

“They call themselves a teachers union, but their true mission is clear: indoctrinating our children with toxic propaganda,” Harris said.  

The NEA, a giant labor union representing educators, received its congressional charter in 1906.  

The NEA has long received criticism from the political right over its policy positions, such as in early July, when the group vowed “to defend against [President Donald] Trump’s embrace of fascism.” The union’s resolution received additional attention because the group misspelled fascism as “facism,” education advocate and political activist Corey DeAngelis first reported.  

“You can’t make this stuff up,” DeAngelis said Wednesday. “I mean, this is the union that—supposedly representing educators—can’t even correctly spell what they’re calling the president of the United States.”  

Then, last week, the NEA stated that it had voted to “not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League,” an organization founded to fight antisemitism.  

“The National Education Association and its members are unequivocally committed to the cause of educating, organizing against, and combating all forms of hate and discrimination, including antisemitism and anti-Palestinian bigotry. This is a fundamental principle we will never abandon,” Becky Pringle, NEA president, said in a statement July 10.  

While the NEA is engaging on political issues, students’ education is suffering, according to Tina Descovich, CEO and co-founder of Moms for Liberty.  

In 2022, the U.S. Nation’s Report Card found that only one-third of American fourth-graders performed at or above the National Assessment of Educational Progress proficiency reading level. 

“It’s an incredibly sad moment in our nation’s history when the largest teachers union has put woke politics before America’s children,” Descovich said.  

The NEA—with about 3 million members, the larger of two national teachers unions—did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.  

While repealing the congressional charter of the NEA would not dismantle the union, it does “send a strong message: The federal government … no longer endorses the extremist politics or the damage they’re doing to our nation and to our education system,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said at the press conference, held outside the Capitol. 

The NEA has “infiltrated every classroom in this country,” according to Norman, who called the bill Harris introduced Wednesday “just the first step.”  

“Our message is to activate everyone,” the South Carolina lawmaker said. “When you see something like this in a classroom, you say something,” he added, referring to leftist political ideology in schools.  

In addition to Norman, Republican Reps. David Rouzer of North Carolina, Randy Fine and Byron Donalds of Florida, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Mary Miller of Illinois, Chip Roy of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Bob Onder of Missouri are co-sponsoring the bill.  

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.  

The organizations Moms for Liberty, Heritage Action, Young America’s Foundation, American Principles Project, and the National Right to Work Committee have endorsed the bill.