From Music Teacher to National Union Leader: Top Takeaways From New NEA Chief – The 74

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Princess Moss has been a leader of the National Education Association since 2014, but soon she will implement her own plans for the union as incoming president. One of her top goals when she takes office Sept. 1 is to shift campaigning and organizing from the union’s centralized, national level to local affiliates.

Moss was elected president of the nation’s largest teachers union July 5, replacing Becky Pringle, who was unable to run again because of term limits. Following six years as NEA vice president, Moss will inherit a union that’s recently increased membership and is facing challenges like a new federal school choice program, restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion and the dismantling of the Education Department.

When she announced her candidacy on social media last year, she said she wasn’t running for the title of president, but instead to lead a movement. She said she wants to start by embedding organizing priorities into daily union work across the nation. 

“Recent victories — from Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act to Portland’s transformative strike — showcase the power of our collective action,” Moss said on her website. “While these efforts have produced important victories, they also frequently required us to rebuild momentum with each new challenge. What if, instead of restarting every time, we maintained a continuous level of readiness?”

Moss said local organizing creates lasting change and that it’s time for the NEA to be a union in which every member can be involved.

“My vision is a natural evolution from resistance to renaissance,” she said in a campaign video. “Rather than responding to others’ visions of education, we’ll assert our professional authority to shape the future. Instead of organizing primarily through political identity, we’ll unite around issues that transcend partisan divisions.”

Moss declined multiple requests from The 74 for an interview.

As president, Moss will lead 2.8 million members — about 90% of whom are working educators, according to the union’s latest federal labor report. While membership has increased since the 2023-24 school year, it is still below pre-pandemic levels. 

The NEA has not only become vocal about race, gender and LGTBQ topics in recent years, but has dealt with controversies around antisemitism and staffing issues within its own organization. 

The union was involved in multiple lawsuits last year, including a case fighting a Trump administration “Dear Colleague” letter that sought to crack down on school diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The directive was later dropped by the U.S. Department of Education. In April, a federal civil rights complaint alleged that the NEA discriminated against Jewish members. The conflict led to the approval of new policies to protect union delegates at its July representative assembly.

At the union’s annual assembly two years ago, a three-day strike by the NEA’s own unionized staff interrupted sessions and a planned speech by then-President Joe Biden. Employees were later locked out of their jobs.

When asked in an interview about upcoming challenges, Moss characterized the new federal school choice program as an “intentional plan to destroy education.”

“We have been on defense for too long,” Moss said at the union’s July 4 representative assembly. “We have been defending funding, defending rights, defending the very existence of public education. We must go on the offense.”

The union credits Moss’ work for some of its political accomplishments, such as when she joined Biden to sign the Social Security Fairness Act into law following her advocacy with local educators and NEA affiliates.

“Princess is an outspoken, sought-after advocate on the topics of racial and social justice in education,” NEA said in a statement. “To Princess, and to the entire NEA, every child and every student — no matter their parents’ incomes, where they live, the language they speak at home, their race, religion, ethnicity, gender identification or physical capabilities — deserves to attend a great public school.”

Moss grew up in Bumpass, Virginia, a town located 30 minutes from the nearest grocery store. She said in a campaign document that her passion for education sparked in second grade, when her teacher made her feel like the smartest person in the world despite misspelling the word “refrigerator” during the class spelling bee.

“Having to give up marching band as a teen because my parents could not make the commitment to picking me up after games drives my concern for rural communities in particular, and the various educational inequities overall that demand targeted resources,” Moss said online about her vision for NEA president.

The child of two school bus drivers, Moss became a music teacher in 1983 in Louisa County, Virginia. She was in the classroom for 21 years before she was elected president of the Virginia Education Association in 2005. 

“Princess is one of us, and she always has been,” Carol Bauer, current Virginia Education Association president, said in a statement. “We have watched her carry our values to the national stage for years. Now she carries them all the way to the top. Every educator in the commonwealth should feel this win in their bones, because it belongs to all of us. We are proud, we are ready and we are going to organize right alongside her.”

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