June 30, 2006 3:54PM # Challenging the NEA: Priceless By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE To quote the old Mercedes Benz airbag commercial: “Some things in life are too important not to share.” The National Education Association’s [national convention](http://www.nea.org/annualmeeting/index.html) begins today at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Outside, the [Evergreen Freedom Foundation](http://www.effwa.org/main/page.php) (a Washington State think tank) is parking a [truck](http://www.effwa.org/neaphotos/Front%20angle.jpg) with a billboard highlighting some of the expenditures the NEA listed on its 2004 federal financial disclosure forms. The billboard is too important (and good) not to share: ![Media Name: boss.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/172395922072/boss.jpg?itok=y3RQ4ZrZ) You can read about the case Evergreen is making against the NEA (both in the court of public opinion and soon the U.S. Supreme Court) [here](http://www.teachers-vs-union.org/) and see some of the truck’s other displays [here](http://www.effwa.org/main/article.php?article_id=1632&number=56). If teachers gain the freedom to decide how their own paychecks are spent, it will in no small part be due to the folks at Evergreen. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).