NEA’s Membership Numbers Don’t Quite Add Up
The National Education Association posted its membership numbers as of December 31, 2009, and something’s hinky somewhere.
You may recall EIA reported that NEA experienced membership losses in 2009 – its first losses in 27 years. That report was based on a presentation made by NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle to the union’s board of directors the weekend of December 12. That report was quadruple-sourced, so I have no doubt as to its accuracy.
The board was briefed that active membership (those working in K-12 and higher ed) was down by almost 17,000 while total membership (including retirees, students and others) was down by almost 37,000. One source gave me NEA total membership at 3,198,513.
In less than three weeks, however, the numbers turned around. They now show active membership up by 14,785 and total membership at 3,269,523 – an increase of 15,640 from 2008. So unless NEA picked up 71,000 members over the Christmas holidays, these numbers are at odds with the numbers presented to the board. They also fly in the face of all the reported teacher layoffs in 2009, with 30 NEA state affiliates reporting an increase in membership – some of them huge.
Working K-12 education employees, both teachers and support workers, are NEA’s core constituency. For comparison purposes, here are the state-by-state active K-12 numbers as of December 31, 2009, with the change in membership, and percentage change, since December 31, 2008:
National – 2,753,129 (up 8,235, +0.3%)
Alabama – 72,145 (down 188, -0.3%)
Alaska – 11,140 (up 298, +2.7%)
Arizona – 31,074 (down 454, -1.4%)
Arkansas – 13,416 (down 48, -0.4%)
California – 301,237 (down 5,463, -1.8%)
Colorado – 35,585 (up 122, +0.3%)
Connecticut – 37,427 (up 277, +0.7%)
Delaware – 10,941 (up 213, +2.0%)
You may recall EIA reported that NEA experienced membership losses in 2009 – its first losses in 27 years. That report was based on a presentation made by NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle to the union’s board of directors the weekend of December 12. That report was quadruple-sourced, so I have no doubt as to its accuracy.
The board was briefed that active membership (those working in K-12 and higher ed) was down by almost 17,000 while total membership (including retirees, students and others) was down by almost 37,000. One source gave me NEA total membership at 3,198,513.
In less than three weeks, however, the numbers turned around. They now show active membership up by 14,785 and total membership at 3,269,523 – an increase of 15,640 from 2008. So unless NEA picked up 71,000 members over the Christmas holidays, these numbers are at odds with the numbers presented to the board. They also fly in the face of all the reported teacher layoffs in 2009, with 30 NEA state affiliates reporting an increase in membership – some of them huge.
Working K-12 education employees, both teachers and support workers, are NEA’s core constituency. For comparison purposes, here are the state-by-state active K-12 numbers as of December 31, 2009, with the change in membership, and percentage change, since December 31, 2008:
National – 2,753,129 (up 8,235, +0.3%)
Alabama – 72,145 (down 188, -0.3%)
Alaska – 11,140 (up 298, +2.7%)
Arizona – 31,074 (down 454, -1.4%)
Arkansas – 13,416 (down 48, -0.4%)
California – 301,237 (down 5,463, -1.8%)
Colorado – 35,585 (up 122, +0.3%)
Connecticut – 37,427 (up 277, +0.7%)
Delaware – 10,941 (up 213, +2.0%)