In the decades since, the association has continued to represent organized teachers and other school workers in collective bargaining and to lobby for progressive education policy.

At the national level, the NEA lobbies the United States Congress and federal agencies and is active in the nominating process for Democratic candidates.

Legislation never succeeded, because it would condone segregated schools in the South and because President Franklin D. Roosevelt rejected any across-the-board program.

[8] The New Deal set up its own separate educational program through the Civilian Conservation Corps and other relief agencies.

[16] For most of the 20th century, the NEA was dominated by the public school administration in small towns and rural areas.

That began to change in 1959, when Wisconsin became the first state to pass a collective bargaining law for public employees.

[19] The NEA's merger with the ATA, its transformation into a true labor union, and other factors were to greatly change the organization's demographics.

The constitution expelled school administrators entirely and made structural changes to allow the NEA to operate as a labor union.

State NEA branches became less important as the national and local levels began direct and unmediated relationships.

In July 2024, NEASO staff members went on a three-day strike protesting what it charged were NEA's unfair labor practices.

This resulted in the halting of the National Education Association's (NEA) annual representative assembly in Philadelphia.

The event, which was scheduled to run for four days over the Fourth of July weekend, brings together thousands of educators to vote on the union's priorities, budget, and strategic plan.

President Joe Biden, who was expected to address the delegates, canceled his appearance, citing his refusal to cross the picket line.

NEA contracts also cover some non-members, known as agency fee payers, which since 2006 have numbered comparatively about 3% of the size of the union's membership.

Read Across America Day began in 1998, on March 2 which was the birthday of the popular children's author, Dr. Seuss.

[45] NEA has played a role in politics since its founding, as it has sought to influence state and federal laws that would affect public education.

The extent to which the NEA and its state and local affiliates engage in political activities, especially during election cycles, has been a source of controversy.

[10] The organization tracks legislation related to education and the teaching profession and encourages members to get involved in politics.

[81] Based on required filings with the federal government, it is estimated that between 1990 and 2002, eighty percent of the NEA's substantial political contributions went to Democratic Party candidates.

In July 2019, the NEA voted down a resolution that would have "re-dedicate[d] itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America by putting a renewed emphasis on quality education".

[89][90] Some critics believe the NEA promotes a gay rights agenda, especially since the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 2005 case Fields v. Palmdale School District.

[91] The court in that case initially ruled that parents' fundamental right to control the upbringing of their children "does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door", which upon petition for rehearing was struck and clarified to "does not entitle individual parents to enjoin school boards from providing information the boards determine to be appropriate in connection with the performance of their educational functions",[92] and that a public school has the right to provide its students with "whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise".

[94] A leading critic of NEA from the left is Dr. Rich Gibson, whose article on the NEA–AFT merger convention outlines a critique of unionism itself.