NEA Delegates Reject Merger Plan, But Door to Unity With AFT Still Open Delegates to the National Education Association's annual meeting soundly rejected a plan July 5 that would have paved the way for the union's merger with the American Federation of Teachers. J uly 18.
Unity is far from a dead issue for the nation's two major teacher organizations.
Read reactions to the votes and look ahead to what's next in unifying the two groups. As schoolchildren absorbed lectures on state history during tours of the Capitol in Sacramento last week, California lawmakers were making history of their own by passing a school reform package that will raise the stakes for teachers, administrators, and students. School Board Prayers Are Illegal, Court Rules Public prayers before school board meetings violate the First Amendment's prohibition against government establishment of religion, a federal appeals court has ruled. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, based in Cincinnati, ruled 2-1 against the Cleveland board of education's practice of opening its meetings with a prayer by a minister. Detroit Michigan lawmakers last week finally reached agreement on a compromise bill that will shift power over the Detroit schools to Mayor Dennis W. Archer.