MCEA is one of the largest local affiliates of the National Education Association (NEA). MCEA is a leader in efforts to build a new kind of teachers union that responds to the needs of today’s educators. We are more than 14,000 classroom teachers, guidance counselors, speech pathologists, media specialists, and other non-supervisory certified educators in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools system. We work in a rapidly urbanizing suburban district with a growing divide between haves and have-nots. MCEA members teach 157,000 students in 204 schools spread over 497 square miles. The district has densely populated low-income urban neighborhoods, sprawling suburban subdivisions, and rural agricultural towns.