Both the NEA and AFT have endorsed President Clinton's re-election. Many of them resist becoming adjuncts to the Democratic Party. Besides that, far from all teachers even belong to a union. In November, the Washington-based polling firm, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, asked AFT members how they would vote in the next congressional race. EPI's Haar says teachers are split one-third each Democrats, Republicans and independents.
Many teachers are nonunion out of personal conviction, as well as for financial reasons.
One explanation is that labor law allows NEA and AFT to act as gatekeepers, much as it does other unions. In states with collective bargaining laws for teachers, unions can make teachers join, or pay ''agency fees'' in lieu of joining, as a condition of employment. In those states, teachers with different political views must still pay the union or not get a job. For teachers who do back their unions, there's a good reason for it. Unions overwhelmingly represent teachers in public schools.