Declaration of Independence (MNEA, 1973)

I have found myself reading this over and over and over again.  Every educator needs to take this to heart.  Please note that when it was written, membership in MNEA was not yet open to education support professionals.

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We are teachers in Missouri.  We care about our rights.  We care about what goes on in the classroom.

For too many years, we have felt helpless in our endeavors to fulfill our responsibilities as professional educators. There were always too few dollars, too many arbitrary and counterproductive rules and too many politicians making political decisions about education.

Teachers had virtually no influence on the politicians or the decisions.  Now, we seek to change that.  We ask only the opportunity to mobilize teachers for effective use of our collective power.  The uses of that power are the prerogative of the affected teacher group, whether it be local, state or national.

A new day has arrived for Missouri teachers.  From all areas of the state, we are declaring our independence from our old futility, from groups dominated by people who did not believe in the collective insistence of teachers on better schools, better salaries and better protection of teacher rights.

We make a dual pledge.  First, to the teacher of Missouri: that our new organization will be built on the principles of justice, participatory democracy and commitment to the highest quality of education.  Second, to the present and future parents of Missouri: that the results of our active and concerned teacher action will be manifold but will center on ending waste in school spending, increasing the quality of teaching and decreasing the depersonalization and overcrowding in Missouri schools.

Missouri schools aren’t doing the job.  There is no magic formula to change that, but we believe that classroom teachers, working together, are the best hope for worthwhile change.

Teachers of Missouri, join us.  Together we are not helpless.

We are at the beginning of a long journey for Missouri teachers and Missouri education.  We are sustained on this journey by our collective belief that something better is possible for Missouri, something better for teachers, something better for parents, and, most important, something better for students.

We declare our independence from the hopelessness of the past and look forward to the days, months and years of this new journey.