| Notes |
Labor leader - Utah[edit]
The press coverage she received as a result of the Teacher of the Year award encouraged her to run for office, and in 1990 she won a write-in election[1] as president of the Utah Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).[3] One of her initiatives as UEA president was to organize[1] the Children at Risk Foundation; she served as its first president.[6] She also served as president of Utah Retirement Systems.[6]
Labor leader - national[edit]
In 1996, she was elected to the 9-member NEA Executive Committee.[7] In 2002, she was elected NEA Secretary-Treasurer with 78 percent of the vote, the first time a four-candidate race was decided on the first ballot.[4] She served two three-year terms as treasurer.[7] On July 4, 2008, she was elected NEA vice-president,[7] and she was re-elected at the 2011 NEA Representative Assembly with over 90% of the vote.[8] At the 2014 NEA Representative Assembly in Denver, Colorado, she was elected NEA President.[9][10]
Eskelsen García is a national leader among Hispanic educators; she addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Public Policy Conference in September 2008.[11]
She authored a humor column on parenting that ran in 22 local newspapers.[citation needed] Her education advice for parents has been published in Time, Working Mother, and Woman's World, and she's been featured on Fox News's Hannity & Colmes and CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight. She has been the invited keynote speaker for hundreds of education events in virtually every state and was highlighted by Education World in their "Best Conference Speakers" edition.[12] She writes a blog, “Lily's Blackboard,” covering the latest education issues.[13]
Her union leadership has included writing protest songs, including one about the No Child Left Behind Act.[14] As vice president, she has been part of NEA’s recent emphasis on working with the American labor movement; she appeared in Washington, D.C. on December 10, 2009, with labor leaders from the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO to speak out against taxing health-care benefits, where she said, "We should tax the millionaires, not teachers and bus drivers."[15]
She succeeded Dennis Van Roekel as president of the National Education Association on September 1, 2014.[16]
She is currently married to graphic artist Alberto Garcia with whom she published the 2014 book, “Rabble Rousers: Fearless Fighters for Social Justice”. |