Our Beliefs

1. We always remember that our first duty is to the student;

2. We aim to develop a young person's character as well as his or her intellect;

3. Our schools are free from strikes or any other work stoppage tactics or coercive threats;

4. Educators are free from all forms of compulsory membership and are not forced to join or otherwise pay dues to a labor union in order to teach or hold membership in a local or state association; and,

5. Public schools are primarily accountable to their local communities.

More Background Information

• We are a professional association of educators–not a teachers' union. We are not affiliated with the NEA teachers union. Our focus is on what is best for our students and for their education. We welcome educators of any education entity including teachers, support staff, and administrators.

• We are academic professionals. We do not believe in strikes, picketing, or in militant, adversarial, or unprofessional confrontations. One teacher put it this way, "We are Teachers, not Teamsters."

• We focus on the classroom - not on the host of non-education political issues and social agendas that teachers unions often pursue. These non-classroom issues involve partisan politics and are often matters of personal conscience and faith. They are also divisive and should have no part in a true professional association. NWPE does not contribute any money to political parties or to candidates. NWPE honors the reputation of its teachers by staying focused on education issues.

• We believe that character education, personal responsibility, and a strong work ethic should be reinforced with all students in public schools.

• We support educators as professionals, and we support accountability in public schools for all key stakeholders - teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members, parents and students.

• We believe educators should have the option of joining a different kind of professional organization other than the NEA teachers union and its affiliates. Quality, professional teachers should have a choice of organizations. AAE and its affiliates have become that choice for many thousands of teachers nationally.

• Over 300,000 teachers across the country have joined non-union professional educator organizations.

• There are currently large, active Independent State Teacher Associations in over half the states in the nation. In Georgia, Texas, and Missouri, independent state teacher associations actually outnumber the NEA and AFT unions in membership. AAE has members in all 50 states.

• We help teachers understand their legal and professional rights in a variety of situations. And we train them to avoid potentially dangerous or problematic situations where they may incur liability for themselves or for the school district.

Collective Bargaining

Although NWPE is not a union, we support educators’ collective bargaining rights including the right to form “local only” teacher unions that are not affiliated with the NEA. Contact NWPE for information on establishment of accountable, cost-effective local only bargaining units to which NWPE can provide non-bargaining support services.