The National Education Association, the country鈥檚 largest teachers鈥� union, announced Thursday that it supports mandates requiring that all educators either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to regular testing for the virus.
鈥淎s we enter a new school year amidst a rapidly spreading Delta variant and lagging public vaccination rates, it is clear that the vaccination of those eligible is one of the most effective ways to keep schools safe, and ... must be coupled with other proven mitigation strategies,鈥� said Becky Pringle, the NEA鈥檚 president, in a statement on Thursday.
鈥淎ppropriate employee accommodations must be provided, and paid leave and readily available sites should be available for vaccinations. Employee input, including collective bargaining where applicable, is critical,鈥� she said.
In self-reports, 90 percent of NEA members said that they鈥檙e fully vaccinated. The union has about 3 million members.
By contrast, the American Federation of Teachers stopped just short of endorsing a vaccine mandate in a resolution passed Wednesday night by the union鈥檚 executive council.
The reiterates AFT鈥檚 support for voluntary vaccination, and encourages union representatives to bargain with employers over workplace vaccinate-or-test policies.
鈥淲e should be working with employers on vaccine policies, not opposing them,鈥� said Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, in an interview with Education Week. 鈥淚f [school districts] want a mandate, we should be working with them and bargaining on the impacts to make sure it鈥檚 fair.鈥�
This AFT executive council announcement comes several days after Weingarten said she personally supported AFT members working with districts to create vaccine mandates.
Spread of Delta variant pushes unions, districts to reconsider vaccine mandates
As Education Week鈥檚 Madeline Will has reported, teachers鈥� unions initially shied away from supporting vaccine mandates, on the grounds of teacher autonomy, while promoting voluntary vaccination. (鈥淎s strongly as I support vaccines, you have to have some voice and agency in determining whether you get the shot in the arm,鈥� Weingarten said earlier this month.)
But the rapid spread of the Delta variant has shifted these calculations鈥攆or unions, but also for states and school districts. The surge has called into question schools鈥� ability to safely provide in-person instruction this year, especially as children under 12 are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
Earlier this week, California became the first state to mandate that all teachers and school staff either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. The order goes into effect Oct. 15 and applies to both public and private school teachers.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, has mandated the same policy, though it only applies to state and county workers鈥攚hich include public school, but not private school, teachers. New York City and Denver have also put in place similar requirements.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation鈥檚 chief epidemiologist, also recently came out in favor of vaccine mandates for teachers, saying the country was now in a 鈥渃ritical situation.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檝e had 615,000-plus deaths, and we are in a major surge now as we are going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business,鈥� he said, earlier this week.
At the same time, some states where governors or legislatures had previously banned local mask mandates in school districts are seeing renewed pressure from parents to reinstate these policies.
In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, called a special session to revise or repeal a law he signed earlier this year, which banned schools from requiring masks for students or staff.
The special session adjourned without further action, but last week, a judge blocked the law鈥攁 decision that the governor said he supports. Several days later, the state鈥檚 that students wear masks in school buildings this fall.
