Teachers union to back candidate
According to the Washington Post:
A torrent of teachers is flowing into Washington this week as one of the nation's largest and most powerful unions aims to decide whom to endorse in the presidential race, what position to take on revisions to the federal No Child Left Behind law and how to react to state and local proposals for merit pay, private school vouchers and public charter schools.
The National Education Association's annual meeting, which will attract 10,000 delegates and a few thousand other union members and guests, comes amid a shaky economy that could threaten teachers' salaries and benefits.
Representatives of the 3.2 million member union, meeting in a cavernous hall of the Washington Convention Center, call themselves the world's largest democratic governing body.
Each presidential election year, the NEA convenes in the capital, and yesterday the contest between presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain weighed on many minds. Obama, a heavy favorite to win the NEA's endorsement tomorrow, is scheduled to speak to the union via satellite Saturday. Sen. McCain (Ariz.) declined an invitation to speak, an NEA spokesman said....click to continue.
