NYSUT Teacher Education Conference Board Files

New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) was created in 1972 by the merger of the New York State Teachers Association (NYSTA) and the United Teachers of New York (UTNY). NYSTA had been affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), and UTNY with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). UTNY was the statewide organization whose United Federation of Teachers (UFT), led by Albert Shanker, was the predominant teachers' union in New York City. In joining with United Teachers and affiliating with the AFT, NYSUT also became a member union of the AFL-CIO.

In 1976, NYSUT voted to disaffiliate with the NEA. Some locals left NYSUT and created the NYEA (New York Educators Association), which became the state affiliate for the NEA. In the early 1980s, NYEA changed its name to NEA-NY.

NYEA/NEA- NY viewed association with the AFL-CIO's industrial unions as undermining the professional image and independence of teachers. The two organizations also differed strongly on aspects of the governance structure, particularly with respect to ethnic minority representation, with NYSUT opposed to mandatory minimums. The rivalry between NYSUT and NYEA/NEA-NY in organizing new locals expended a great deal of resources for both labor organizations.

While competition with NYEA/NEA-NY was a constant focus of NYSUT's organizing efforts for teachers, NYSUT was also organizing college faculty members, nurses, and other non-teaching personnel. Once members were organized, NYSUT continued to advocate for teachers' and other workers' rights through contract support and legal services at the local level and political involvement at the state and federal levels, supporting candidates and legislation that protected funding, due process, and working conditions.

NEA-N Y merged with NYSUT in 2006, by which time NYSUT had grown to more than half a million members, becoming the largest union in New York State.

The Teacher Education Conference Board was created in 1972 in reaction to a proposal by the State Education Department for competency-based teacher education. Officially an independent confederation of educational organizations with its own constitution, TECB was heavily influenced by the teacher's union, New York State United Teachers. NYSUT has a weighted vote on the TECB executive board, paid the salary of its coordinator, and shared the identical address; NYSUT president Tom Hobart served as TECB's vice president, and NYSUT's vice president Antonia Cortese was also an active TECB member. Other organizations on its membership list were the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE), the NYS Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), the Council of University Deans (CUD), and the New York State Federation of School Administrators (FSA).