<P> The organization tracks legislation related to education and the teaching profession and encourages members to get involved in politics . </P> <Ul> <Li> 1910 - 1915: Women play increasing leadership roles in NEA . </Li> <Li> 1912: NEA endorses women's suffrage in the United States </Li> <Li> 1918: NEA "Commission on the Emergency in Education", with George Strayer as chairman, Warns that the evidence from the wartime draft shows millions of potential soldiers were illiterate or poorly educated, and often in bad health . The NEA study said the cause was very low quality rural schools in the South, badly trained teachers, and inequitable financing . It called for $100 million of federal aid to remedy the deficiencies, but none was forthcoming . Many states, however, started setting minimal standards for rural schools . </Li> <Li> 1923: NEA starts to promote state pension plans for teachers; by 1950, every state had a pension plan in effect . </Li> <Li> 1920s: The main NEA goal during this period was to raise teacher salaries, raise standards, and to gain a cabinet - level U.S. Secretary of Education . Success on the cabinet issue came in 1979 . </Li> <Li> 1930s: The NEA was never on good terms with the New Deal . Its main goal was for Congress to pass a multipurpose public finance bill that would supplement local property taxes in funding public schools . Some relief money was used to build schools, but the New Deal avoided channeling any of it through the Office of Education . Legislation never succeeded, because it would condone segregated schools in the South and because Roosevelt rejected any across - the - board program . He believed that federal money should only go to the poorest schools, and none to rich states . The New Deal set up its own separate educational program through the Civilian Conservation Corps and other relief agencies . </Li> <Li> 1940s: NEA successfully lobbied Congress for special funding for public schools near military bases . </Li> <Li> 1944: NEA lobbied for the G.I. Bill, a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans . </Li> <Li> 1958: NEA helps gain passage of the National Defense Education Act </Li> <Li> 1964: NEA lobbies to pass the Civil Rights Act </Li> <Li> 1965: NEA works with Catholic school leaders to pass the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for federal aid to schools . </Li> <Li> 1968: After years of feuding, the AFT suggests a merger with the NEA . The NEA refuses . </Li> <Li> 1968: NEA lobbies for passage of the Bilingual Education Act, with federal funding for Spanish - language education in public schools . </Li> <Li> 1968 - 68 . Wave of school strikes outside South; 80% by NEA . </Li> <Li> 1969: 450,000 teachers covered by 1,019 collective bargaining agreements . NEA accounted for 90 percent of the contracts and 61 percent of the teachers . </Li> <Li> 1972: New York State Teachers Association quits the NEA and merges with the AFT . </Li> <Li> 1970s: State affiliates become powerful lobbyists . </Li> <Li> 1976: 265 NEA delegates attend the Democratic National Convention; NEA endorses Democrat Jimmy Carter for president; he wins and secures a Department of Education in 1979 . </Li> <Li> 1980: 464 NEA delegates attend the Democratic National Convention . </Li> <Li> 1984: NEA lobbies for passage of a federal retirement equity law that provides the means to end sex discrimination against women in retirement funds . </Li> <Li> 2000--present: NEA lobbies for changes to the No Child Left Behind Act </Li> <Li> 2009: NEA delegates to the Representative Assembly pass a resolution that opposes discriminatory treatment of same - sex couples . </Li> </Ul> <Li> 1910 - 1915: Women play increasing leadership roles in NEA . </Li> <Li> 1912: NEA endorses women's suffrage in the United States </Li>

Where does the national education association get its funding