NEA and AFT leaders walk a tightrope.
In a weird way, it was so much easier when W was President and Rod Paige and then Margaret Spellings ran the Department of Education. While many Democrats supported NCLB, the two teacher unions were in opposition. And said so.
But an historic electoral victory in 2008, Democratic Party control of the White House and Congress and control of the USDE ironically made things, not easier, but more complicated.
It can’t have been an easy two years for AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. Although many progressive critics think they were silent too long, negotiating through the land mines of