New NEA President Wants Teachers Union to Step Back From Party Politics

Princess Moss, the incoming president of the National Education Association, says the nation's largest labor union should stop tying itself to a political party. She takes the helm at a tense moment for public schools.

Inflation is straining school budgets. A new education tax credit that will send federal tax dollars toward private schools takes effect in January. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to dismantle the Department of Education. "Public education is under attack," Moss says. "Our students are under attack."

The NEA counts 3 million teachers and public workers among its members, in every state. Moss describes her agenda as moving "from resistance to renaissance." It emphasizes professional autonomy and community organizing, as past leadership did, but breaks from tradition on one point. "I want us to become our own political authority," she says, "meaning that we're not aligning ourselves with a political party."

Moss grew up in rural Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the daughter of two school bus drivers. She credits her second grade teacher, Lucy T. Lewis, with shaping her ambitions. In 1968, Lewis told her she was smart even after she misspelled "refrigerator" in front of the class. "I wanted to be just like Mrs. Lewis," Moss says.

She went on to teach elementary school music for more than 20 years in a neighboring county. She also rose through union ranks, serving as president of the Virginia Education Association from 2004 to 2008 before advancing within the NEA. She will serve a three-year term as national president. "We are the experts," she says. "We want to be at the decision-making tables."

Her Virginia years inform her approach. The state then had a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled general assembly, and she built coalitions across the aisle by stressing that public education serves everyone. With the midterms approaching, she says she is bringing that mindset to the national union. Members are being told to "talk about your students" and to avoid framing school issues as Democratic or Republican.

Michael Petrilli, president of the right-leaning Fordham Institute, is skeptical. "That would be a huge departure for the NEA," he says, noting the union has been a stalwart supporter of the Democratic Party and vice versa. The NEA recommended Joe Biden in 2020 and formally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

Petrilli has long criticized teachers unions, arguing their positions often block meaningful changes to teaching and preserve strict salary rules that can make hiring for certain jobs difficult. Still, he says he is open to watching how things unfold, particularly because many state-level races favor the union's longtime Democratic allies. "What are they going to do with that power?" he asks.

Moss says she is focused on building broad support for public schools despite continued criticism from some Republicans. "We will work with those who want to put public education first," she says, "no matter what the political party."