The Public Rustic Training Affiliation (NREA) is a non-benefit association devoted to advancing the interests of schools and teachers in country and meagerly populated region of the US. The NREA is a membership organization that operates as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization.[1] It is led by an elected executive committee that is made up of national representatives of rural school administrators, rural school teachers, state education agencies, educational service agencies, higher education, rural district school boards, and at-large constituencies.[1] The NREA has approximately 8,000 members, both voting and non-voting, from each of the 50 states.non-governmental NEA affiliate. Additionally, the group decided to change its name to the Rural/Regional Education Association the very next year.
Characterizing the association, 1975-1986
Alter
The years somewhere in the range of 1975 and 1980 were troublesome ones for the association. As NEA's mission changed and appeared to be at odds with the majority of REA's members, the relationship with the sponsoring organization had become stressful. At the same time, serious concerns were raised regarding the standard of the NEA staff's services to REA. A large portion of the individuals from REA were country school executives, directors of transitional units, and school or college faculty. The directors from the middle units were worried about the issues confronting country schools, on the grounds that generally speaking, these schools were their prevail clients. When they were with other administrators, these superintendents felt more at ease. Members of R/REA were preoccupied during these five years with affiliation issues, such as whether the organization should remain affiliated with the NEA or become an independent organization and employ an executive director whose primary allegiance would be to REA.
There were supporters of each option. A little gathering of the individuals illustrative of every one of the gatherings inside the participation labored for a very long time thinking about the choices. The first set of bylaws were presented to the membership by this group by the 1980 annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, which was presided over by Superintendent Anita Lohr of Pima County, Arizona. The enrollment casted a ballot to initiate a few disputable changes during this gathering including:
REA ended its affiliation with the NEA, signed a contract with Colorado State University to provide administrative services for the organization, hired a part-time executive director (Joseph T. Newlin was hired in the fall of 1980), established a delegate assembly to serve as the organization's policy-making body, and raised annual membership fees from $15 to $50.
Due to the fact that members would not be willing to pay $50 to join REA, some members believed that the dues issue would end the organization. Because they had been turned down for membership in AASA, others were upset. The organization changed after 1980. It was decided by some members not to renew their membership. Some intermediate unit superintendents left REA, and AASA established an affiliate for educational service agencies (AAESA), but many chose dual membership. As a result of the fact that a number of the AAESA's founders had also served as leaders in REA, the two organizations' members today share a common bond.
Resolutions and budget decisions emerged from the program and the organization's efforts to define its mission. These modifications were to: (1) sponsor research that would lend credence to that "voice," and (2) be the national voice for rural education. The idea of having a voice on a national scale was so important that the organization changed its name once more in 1986 to the National Rural Education Association.
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