Yes, Iowa educators and students deserve protection and support

I am the president of the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA). We are the union representing preK-12 educators, education support professionals, community college faculty, Area Education Agency professionals, retired educators, and aspiring educators with contracts covering more than 50,000 employees. Our mission is to promote quality public education by placing students at the center of everything we do while advocating for education professionals.

At ISEA, we believe membership is not just about protection from harm but also about promoting and supporting our schools, students, and all the education professionals serving them.

We know that legal protection is part of why public educators have been members of the largest union in Iowa since 1854. ISEA has three full-time, in-house attorneys who are experts on education law, with more than 30 law offices around the state that give exclusive discounts to ISEA members on various issues. We are privileged to have more than 60 education experts on staff and in the field who are no more than an hour’s drive from any local school. These specialists help members with contracts and negotiations, professional development, personal and professional advocacy, and keeping up to date on the latest developments affecting our schools, students, and the profession.

Membership in the union means we always have your back. Ensuring our students, educators, and school employees have a safe and healthy learning and working environment is essential, and that means we don’t just focus on one area of your needs. We focus on the entire public education system. Every single part of an educator’s profession and a student’s learning environment is determined by elected officials. School budgets, teaching standards, class sizes, and books on our library shelves are all decided by people elected to public office. A big part of what we do at ISEA is urging those making these critical decisions to support our public schools.

It is easy for an organization and elected official to claim that they support our public schools, students, and education professionals; it is quite another thing for them to back up these promises with real action. While the ISEA fought hard to protect public school employees' collective bargaining rights, Professional Educators of Iowa (PEI) (“Iowa teachers deserve affordable protection“ Sept. 5) stood on the sidelines. While ISEA fought hard against using public money to support private school vouchers, PEI stood on the sidelines; the same happened when the Legislature voted to allow carrying, transporting, and possessing weapons on school grounds. The ISEA loudly voiced our opposition, while PEI remained silent. And, while ISEA works to help recommend and elect candidates to school boards and other offices who support our public schools, PEI fails to take a stand when it matters.

Remaining silent is not an option if you want to support, protect, and grow Iowa’s public schools, our students, and the professionals who serve them. We must attend meetings held at the Board of Educational Examiners and work with the Public Employee Relations Board. We must collaborate with significant education stakeholder groups like the School Boards Association and the Iowa School Administrators to determine the best path forward. As far as I know, PEI does not collaborate with public education groups or publicly voice its concerns or objections when educators and students are attacked.

In the education world, silence is not an option.

The power of collective voice and action is the most significant advantage of joining the country's most prominent public educators’ union. Protecting our members is what we do. Advocating and serving students, educators, and our schools is our mission. Membership in ISEA means not standing on the sidelines while ideological zealots attack some of our students. It means standing with our colleagues for better wages, health care, and working conditions. It means standing with our public schools and supporting their growth as they unite communities across the state. Our work involves every aspect of public education in Iowa, and our members, their students, families, and communities deserve no less.

You get what you pay for; at ISEA, you get amazing specialists, benefits, protection, and advocacy focused on your profession, the students in your care, and your school community. I am proud of the Iowa State Education Association's work and all we have accomplished and will accomplish in the future together.

Mike Beranek is a retired third-grade teacher from West Des Moines elected by ISEA member delegates in 2018 to serve as President of the Iowa State Education Association. He was reelected to a second term in 2021.