Rural teachers are declaring independence from national unions
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is fitting to recall the author’s vision for America. Thomas Jefferson distrusted centralized authority. He was devoted to individual liberty. And he idealized rural Americans as the soul of a virtuous republic.
Jefferson regarded rural Americans as “the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous” citizens. He expressed this theme throughout the course of his public life. In his view, the American spirit depended upon agrarian communities. “I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural,” he wrote to James Madison in December 1787.
Jefferson also often addressed the importance of education as vital to self-government and liberty for all citizens, “from the richest to the poorest.” To Madison, Jefferson wrote: “Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.”
Fast-forward to today. If we stand back and observe the state of education and civic formation in America, it’s fair to say Jefferson would be alarmed at the outsized role national teacher unions play in American political life. He would be frustrated by the constant roadblocks national teacher unions raise against virtually every variety of state reform to improve children’s access to quality education. He would be aghast at their insistence on centralizing authority over education policy and their embrace of ideological agendas that devalue and distort liberty and the American tradition.
And Jefferson would no doubt look to teachers in rural communities, above all, to buck groups like the National Educators Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
That’s exactly what’s happening.
A major shift is afoot in American education – and it is taking root not in major metropolitan centers, but in small towns and agricultural communities. Across the Midwest, rural-district teachers are pushing back against centralized, urban-oriented national unions and reclaiming control over their profession.
Rural teacher disaffection is the result of the widening ideological gap between these virtuous citizens and national union leadership. Both the NEA and AFT, shaped by urban concerns and centralized authority, often promote policies that rural teachers feel are out of step with their communities and irrelevant to local concerns.
What unites these cases is not hostility to freedom of association, but a rejection of distant control.
Kansas is the epicenter of this quiet revolution. Earlier this year, for instance, teachers in the rural Lincoln and Pleasanton school districts voted overwhelmingly to remove the NEA as their bargaining representative. But these votes are only the most recent. Across the state, teachers in 30 districts have now declared their independence from the NEA. As a result, the NEA’s influence over these communities is gone – and its grip over state politics is weakening. The movement has even spilled over the border into Nebraska.
A similar dynamic has taken hold in rural Ohio, where a nascent movement to cast off the NEA is on the march. Take Continental Local School District, a rural district serving fewer than 500 students in northwest Ohio. In fall 2025, educators voted out the NEA and formed the Alliance of Continental Educators, an independent local with dues that are a fraction of what the NEA charged. These teachers have seized control of their destiny. More Ohio districts are on the march.
What unites these cases is not hostility to freedom of association, but a rejection of distant control. Rural educators are finding that large bureaucracies and centralized authority are an impediment, rather than a benefit, to their profession. In their communities, small is beautiful. Locally accountable organizations reflect the values and challenges of the communities they serve.
Jefferson would look approvingly at these teachers’ skepticism of concentrated power and their preference for local self-governance. By stepping away from national unions and toward local control, rural educators are offering a better model of decentralization and individual liberty. Their move toward independence rejects decades-old assumptions about who speaks for teachers in America. In the long run, they may be reshaping their profession itself.
Dan Remmenga is a former public school math teacher and Executive Director of the Center for Independent Employees (CIE), a 501(c)(3) legal defense foundation that provides representation and aid to employees opposed to union oppression in their workplaces.
Keith Williams is a former public school English teacher and serves as Sr. Vice President of CIE.
