Republican Teachers Uneasy at Obama-Themed Union Convention: Does NEA Represent All Teachers?

The National Education Association (NEA) has 3.2 million members, which makes it America's largest professional employee union. The NEA had over 9,000 members attend its annual convention in Washington, D.C. from June 27 - July 5, 2012. According to reports, the convention looked like an Obama 2012 election headquarters, which made many of the teachers feel uncomfortable since they don't all support President Obama's re-election bid.

FoxNews.com described the event as follows:
It had all the trappings of a re-election rally: thousands packing a convention center, Barack Obama T-shirts, videos celebrating the health care law, and a wall-size banner with encouraging messages to the incumbent president.

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel had to stop the boos from the audience when a Republican teacher spoke at the convention. The Republican and non-Republicans who don't support Obama 2012 felt ostracized by their union, which collects dues from their paycheck.

"For Republican teachers, it's almost like we're stepchildren in NEA, and then in the Republican Party we're also stepchildren, because we're public schoolteachers, and that's not part of their focus," said Keiser, who teaches high school math in Long Beach, Calif.

The NEA lobbies the government on everything from taxpayer funding of education to school safety to teacher pay. The NEA has spent over $41 million since 1990 on lobbyists and campaign material with 93% of the money going to Democrats to defeat Republicans according to OpenSecrets.org.

FOXNEWS.COM reports:
Republican teachers at the annual National Education Association convention said they felt pressure from union leaders and the rank-and-file to support President Obama's re-election.