Daily Update - January 20, 2026

Daily Update - January 19, 2026

The NEA Sending Millions To Far Left Organizations

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Transcript
About Reuel Sample

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Tuesday January 20th, 2026.

Fox News is reporting the NEA – the National Education Association – sent millions of dollars in 2024 to what can only be described as far-left organizations:

300,000 dollars to the Sixteen Thirty Fund – a dark-money bundling organization with international ties
Tens of thousands of dollars to Tides Foundation Network which has links to anti-Israel protests and other far-left causes
3 million dollars to Education International – a global teachers federation
And hundreds of thousands to organizations for ballot measures, policy hacks, DEI initiatives and gender identity policies – all on the very liberal left.

What started out as a professional association in Washington, DC in 1886 has morphed into an organization that is fully committed to bullying local school districts and parents into accepting progressive policies as a matter of course in our nation’s classrooms. The NEA has funded multiple gender identity programs, resisted going back to school in person, insisted on masking our children, and constantly whine about how underpaid our teachers are – ignoring the fact that the average NEA employee makes $55,000 / year more than the teachers they claim to represent.

Thankfully, North Carolina does not allow for collective bargaining of teacher salaries. While the union may apply pressure through lobbying, all salaries are determined by the state legislature. Thirty two states – however – do require local school districts to negotiate with the NEA if teachers are organized.

There are only two options. If you are a school teacher and believe in traditional American values – you need to leave the NEA behind. All they want is your money. They do not care about you, and they certainly do not care about kids.

And if you are a school teacher who believes in everything that the NEA is doing, you need to get out of the classroom. We certainly do not need you around our children.

Either way, the NEA does not get its money.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

Reuel Sample is the Editor-in-Chief of The Wilmington Standard. A graduate of Grove City College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as both a Presbyterian Pastor and a Navy Chaplain. He is the product of a classical liberal arts education combined with real world experience in politics and business and conservative Christian worldview firmly rooted in the Reformed tradition. He is the host of several podcasts including the NHC GOP Podcast, the Pastor's Voice, and co-hosts the Nikki and Reuel Podcast Experience. An avid sailor, he has sailed around the world as a youth and to the Azores as a teen as well as extensive trips up and down the east coast of the United States. He is honored to be married to his wife Pam and makes his home in Wilmington, NC.