NELSON: Idaho’s Sen. Risch, Rep. Fulcher take on the NEA

By Maxford Nelson, Director of Research and Government Affairs at the Freedom Foundation | Originally published at freedomfoundation.com

There are few opponents of traditional values and fundamental American principles more powerful than the two large teachers unions: the Washington, D.C.-based National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

Their consistent, comprehensive advocacy for Marxist social and economic policy makes taking on the NEA and AFT an imperative for conservatives. Conversely, the unions’ size and political war chests means tangling with them isn’t for the faint of heart.

In a world in which some federal and state policymakers on the political right are content to make peace with, if not actively advocate for, these progressive behemoths, it is commendable to see at least half of Idaho’s congressional delegation taking a stand.

Both Sen. James Risch and Rep. Russ Fulcher have co-sponsored federal legislation that would rewrite the NEA’s federal charter to refocus the union from partisan politics to its primary mission: improving education in America.

Introduced by Wisconsin congressman Scott Fitzgerald and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis in July, the Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today (STUDENT) Act is based on Freedom Foundation recommendations to fundamentally transform how the NEA operates.

Originally founded in 1886, Congress granted the NEA a federal charter in 1906, recognizing it as a patriotic and national organization on par with fixtures in American society like the U.S. Olympic Committee, Boys and Girls Clubs, and the American Legion. But the NEA has long since strayed from its original, baseball-and-apple-pie mission to “promote the cause of education in the United States.”

For instance, in a recent Fox News op-ed with Rep. Fitzgerald, the Freedom Foundation explained:

The NEA’s annual Representative Assembly, held this month in Portland, generated headlines and mockery as copies of the controversial resolutions approved by the union’s delegates were leaked to the public, including everything from attacking democratically elected President Donald Trump as a “fascist” to undermining the enforcement of our immigration laws… [S]ome of the “important” documents posted online for attendees at the NEA’s Portland convention included: a “Pronoun Guide” claiming that people who do not habitually share their pronouns are “unsafe”; a byzantine “Land Acknowledgement Guide” directing readers to fight “colonization” by reminding attendees at any event of the “dispossession of Indigenous land and people”; and a form to submit complaints to the NEA’s “Committee on Equity & Ethnic Harmony” should any conference attendee breach social justice protocols.

More concerning was the NEA’s nine-page “report” for convention delegates highlighting the union’s priorities and activities in the first half of the year. Among other things, the union boasted about: “taking the lead in filing lawsuits” against the Trump administration; fighting efforts to defund DEI in public schools; shuttering schools with strikes; fighting “authoritarianism” and engaging in “resistance” by supporting the “No Kings” rally and similar protests; backing “World Pride and LGBTQ+ Pride Month”; organizing “labor opposition” to immigration enforcement; and working to “flip” the U.S. House of Representatives to Democrats in 2026.

And in a similar op-ed for The Hill with Heritage Action executive vice president Tiffany Justice, we noted:

The NEA isn’t just aligned with Democrats; it sets the national progressive agenda. It backs abortion on demand and supports restrictions to Second Amendment rights. In 2023, while protesting education reforms championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, NEA president Becky Pringle proclaimed, “our students do not need protection from drag queens.” The union actively works to inject books with political messaging and controversial content into public school libraries and curriculum while fighting efforts to protect students from inappropriate material.

Long before it became popular on the left in 2020, the NEA supported defunding the police, opposed voter ID requirements and claimed only white people can be racist.

The STUDENT Act would counter the NEA’s ideological extremism by, among other things:

prohibiting the NEA from engaging in electoral politics and lobbying, as are most federally chartered corporations;
requiring NEA officers to be U.S. citizens;
prohibiting the NEA from collecting dues from a public employee unless the employee has been notified of their right to refuse, and has affirmatively consented, and requiring the NEA to collect dues without the use of government payroll systems;
prohibiting taxpayer-funded paid-time-off for teachers to engage in union advocacy;
barring the NEA from incorporating the core tenets of Critical Race Theory into its governance, operations, and advocacy;
and subjecting the NEA to heightened congressional oversight and additional financial transparency obligations.

Despite widespread support from dozens of national and state conservative organizations, tight margins in the House and the filibuster in the Senate are roadblocks to the STUDENT Act becoming law in the near future.

Consequently, it’s critical for state lawmakers to step up and take action, especially in states like Idaho. While government unions like the NEA and AFT are known for politically dominating urban centers and blue state America, they have successfully infiltrated and developed disproportionate influence even in staunchly conservative states.

In Idaho, for instance, the Freedom Foundation has documented how dozens of school districts use taxpayer funds and government facilities to directly and indirectly subsidize the Idaho Education Association, from using public payroll systems to collect union dues, to requiring teachers to sit through union membership sales pitches during work time, and excusing teachers from the classroom to engage in union activism and lobbying at taxpayer expense.

This year, legislation to prohibit taxpayer support for teachers unions in Idaho championed by Rep. Judy Boyle and Sen. Ben Toews passed the state House but stalled in the Senate. As the 2026 legislative session rapidly approaches, conservative lawmakers in Boise should follow Risch and Fulcher’s example and, for the sake of both the Gem State and the country, end government support for teachers unions once and for all.