CASE STUDIES: NEA EMPOWERED EDUCATOR DAY, FAMILY & 
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 
SE REGION ESSA CONVENING: On April 1-2, a diverse team of state affiliate leaders and staff
met in Atlanta to do a deep dive into the policy implications for schools and communities under
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The state affiliate teams had an opportunity to also
discuss NEA’s message frame for ESSA and begin the process of using opportunities to develop
state and local organizing plans to use the law to build power and capacity.
On Day 2, state affiliate teams were joined by local and state community partners, at their
invitation, and national partners who have demonstrated a willingness to partner with the
National Education Association (NEA) on ESSA implementation, including the Alliance to
Reclaim Our Schools (AROS), the Schott Foundation, and the Southern Education Foundation.
These partners have also demonstrated an interest in states in the Southeast for a number of
reasons, including the growing population and greater interest in union and community
organizing. Together, state affiliate teams and partners entered into open and honest dialogue
regarding the benefits and challenges of forming alliances and coalitions between education
labor groups and community groups. Following those conversations, state affiliate teams
discussed specific issues related to ESSA (charter school accountability, community schools as a
model for school transformation and preventing state takeover and closure of schools), while
discussing very specific ways the various organizations would work together back home.
The convening continues to yield positive results as state affiliates and community partners
have continued to build the community by participating in series of region-wide conference
calls to share information and resources and discuss ways to work together on a common set of
tactics.
LOUISIANA ALLIANCE TO RECLAIM OUR SCHOOLS: Having suffered with draconian funding cuts
to public education and the implementation of harmful and restrictive education policy, the
Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) and a number of allies, including many parent and
community activists, joined together to elect John Bel Edwards as governor in Louisiana.
Further, the group realized they shared many other common interests, including ending school
privatization, inadequate and inequitable funding of schools, and large-scale attacks on public
schools. Through this work, the LAE, with the support of NEA and the Center for Popular
Democracy and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, formed the state-based Louisiana Alliance
to Reclaim Our Schools (LAROS). LAROS is continuing to develop state and local tactics that will
allow parents, communities, and educators to combine their resources to win on issues that
directly impact students, especially students of color and economically disadvantage students
and communities. Going forward, parent leaders are leading the day-to-day work of LAROS as
the group focuses on addressing poverty, school funding, and inequities in schools, using ESSA
as a frame. Specifically, LAROS will be organizing to pass local school board resolutions
regarding ESSA implementation and gearing up to organize parents for school board elections.
THE SCEA ESSA TOWN HALL: When The South Carolina Education Association formed a
committee of local education leaders to develop a plan to position the state affiliate to lead on

 CASE STUDIES: NEA EMPOWERED EDUCATOR DAY, FAMILY & 
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 
ESSA implementation in their state, they realized we could have a greater influence with the
implementation of ESSA with parents and others in the community. Intentionally, as state leadership
has worked to create an interdependent team of educators, each member has, in turn, brought
with them important relationships and connections to parent and community groups. The test
of their leadership and relationships was on full display at the group’s first statewide organizing
activity, a town hall discussion about ESSA implementation in South Carolina. More than 100
educators, parents, lawmakers, state and local education officials, and groups that have not
been engaged in education policy discussions, including many from the disability rights
community and other community-based service agencies, attended the town hall. Educators
were careful and thoughtful about having a parent and community voices represented on the
panel. Since the event, many new relationships have been formed and the event has been
instrumental in creating an expectation from all involved that educators, parents, and elected
leaders will develop a more inclusive way of working together on ESSA.