The largest teachers union in the country recently passed a set of resolutions that read closer to an anti-MAGA manifesto than a teaching handbook. 

The provisions were shared online by school-choice campaigner, Corey DeAngelis, who posted snippets of the resolution on X this week. The items were passed by the National Education Association at its annual convention this weekend, but were kept “private” this year, Mr. DeAngelis wrote. 

Among the various “business items” voted in by the NEA’s 7,000-member assembly are a pledge “to defend democracy against Trump’s embrace of fascism” by using the term “fascism” in school materials “to correctly characterize Donald Trump’s program and actions.” 

In another item, the NEA agreed to use “existing media channels to oppose any move to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education as an illegal, anti-democratic, and racist attempt to destroy public education and privatize it in the interests of the billionaires.”  

Taking aim at another Trump administration initiative, the group pledged to defend birthright citizenship and oppose “the attempt to revert to pre-civil rights movement — Jim Crow — legal concepts of ‘states rights’ in order to deny citizenship to the children of immigrants.”

The NEA also enshrined its support for students’ rights “to dissent and organize against Trump’s policies,” including any effort to oppose ICE raids and deportations. 

Another provision targets the Anti-Defamation League, one of the country’s most prominent Jewish advocacy groups. Per the resolution, the NEA will no longer “use, endorse, or publicize any materials” from the ADL, including its “curricular materials” and “statistics.” 

“Educators embrace the urgency to respond to the questions of racism, injustice, and all forms of bigotry. Despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be,” the provision reads.

Over the weekend, an NEA delegate, Stephen Siegel, argued from the assembly floor that allowing the ADL “to determine what constitutes antisemitism would be like allowing the fossil-fuel industry to determine what constitutes climate change.” 

The Anti-Defamation League rebuked the move, issuing a statement calling it “profoundly disturbing that a group of NEA activists would brazenly attempt to further isolate their Jewish colleagues and push a radical, antisemitic agenda on students.” 

“We will not be cowed for supporting Israel, and we will not be deterred from our work reaching millions of students with educational programs every year,” the ADL continued. “It is our understanding there’s an internal NEA process that deals with issues like this and it is far from a completed process.”

The Jewish advocacy group has worked with American schools for the past 40 years to help combat antisemitism through educational programs and initiatives. The ADL notably provides public schools with materials about the Holocaust and shares an annual report on antisemitism in America. 

The NEA’s relationship with the ADL soured after the advocacy group started to call out NEA-affiliated teachers associations for spreading anti-Zionist material in the classrooms. 

The slew of anti-MAGA reforms were critiqued by a former educator and charter school founder, Dale Chu, who argued that the NEA’s “priorities speak volumes.” 

“The NEA’s agenda: Stop Trump. Protect DEI. Defend the Department of Education,” he wrote. “Not on the NEA’s agenda: Improve reading. Boost math. Raise achievement.”

A senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Sarah Parshall Perry, shared a similar sentiment. “This is your daily reminder that teachers unions are more concerned with virtue signaling and political activism than teaching your children,” she wrote. 

The NEA’s weekend assembly was further mired with controversy after its 2025 National “Teacher of the Year” proclaimed in a speech that her profession is “deeply political.” The award-winning educator, Ashlie Crosson, who teaches English to high school students, lamented to some 7,000 attendees: “It’s difficult to feel any sense of assurance when the best path forward has become a moving target.” 

The Council of Chief State School Officers stated that Ms. Crosson’s comments do not represent the views of the organization.