On behalf of the thousands upon thousands of educators who are proud to call themselves members of the Arkansas Education Association, it is my honor to share good news with you during this exciting time of year.
Our state's students are heading back to school to learn new lessons that will help them be more competitive than ever before. Educators are welcoming new opportunities for professional growth, and parents and communities are joining together with educators to ensure the success of many of these changes within our children's classrooms.
At the Arkansas Education Association, we are proud to be in the midst of all of this. For more than 145 years now, the AEA has been standing up for our state's students. Having successfully advocated for increases in school funding in each of the past eight decades to create a quality learning environment for students, the AEA has never rested on our laurels. That work ethic is what led us to push for stronger academic standards and to help craft much-needed improvements for public school employees' health insurance.
We have a proven record of success that is unmatched.
The AEA has been empowering our members to advocate for their students and their communities for well over a century. It is an approach that has built a place at the policymaking table for our members where we have helped make success possible for the young people of Arkansas.
Educators have taken notice of the many positive changes we've helped bring to our public schools, which is one reason our membership is up this year. Our colleagues have joined with the career educators on our staff who offer strong, personal guidance and much greater value than any other professional association. The AEA has a deeply rooted presence in all 75 Arkansas counties through decades of providing vital protections for our state's schools and students and quality professional-development programs
Another major reason educators are joining the AEA is because they understand the benefit of getting involved in the democratic process. Our public schools are the backbone of Arkansas communities from the Ozarks to the Delta, and the importance our state places on public education directly correlates with the participation of educators in our democracy. At the AEA, our work begins and ends with giving educators and the students we serve a voice that is loud and clear. Our members' voices are heard during the electoral process as well as at the policymaking table.
Unfortunately, it seems these foundational values of our democracy are being pushed out of our education system by billionaires who have sent their own children to private schools, and by special-interest groups who are out of touch with hardworking families and think they know how to "fix our schools" without spending much time in the classroom.
Those big spenders have recently created organizations in a handful of states around the country, including Arkansas, which call themselves "teachers associations" but seem to spend their time attacking educators for being members of professional groups, like the AEA, who stand up for students. These outsiders aim to silence the voices of educators in order to make it easier for anti-public education initiatives to become law.
This school year, we will be joining with parent and community groups across the state to make clear to those big-money outsiders and their followers that our state's educators already have a strong voice alongside their friends and colleagues at the Arkansas Education Association.
We look forward to working with tens of thousands of everyday Arkansans from every corner of the state to build on our long history of proven results. We will keep standing up for Arkansas students and their families.
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Brenda Robinson is president of the Arkansas Education Association.
Editorial on 09/05/2014