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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 4, 2003

News Release

NEA Elects Utah Teacher as Secretary-Treasurer

Lily Eskelsen wins third-highest post at nation's largest teacher's union

New Orleans, La. - Lily Eskelsen, an elementary school teacher from Utah, won her first full term as the secretary-treasurer of the National Education Association. She was unopposed. 

As secretary-treasurer of the nation's largest teacher's union, Eskelsen ranks third on the organization's leadership pole, making her one of the highest-ranking labor leaders in the country, and one of its most powerful Hispanic educators. Her responsibilities include oversight and maintenance of the group's multi-million dollar budget and fiscal integrity.

"I'm so proud of the confidence shown in me and the direction we are moving - building our own campaign to explain to the public our vision of Great Public Schools," Eskelsen said. 

Eskelsen's commitment to children and public education propelled her to leadership positions within the NEA, beginning with her 1990 write-in election as president of the 18,000-member Utah Education Association. She served in this post until 1996, when she was elected to the nine-member NEA Executive Committee. 

In 1989, Eskelsen was recognized as Utah Teacher of the Year. She won her party's nomination for U.S. Congress in 1998 and served as a member of President Clinton's White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education in 2000, all the while providing education advice to parents in newspapers and magazines, such as Women's Day, Working Mother and Time.

Eskelsen's education career began as a lunchroom worker and later a kindergarten aide. She worked her way through the University of Utah as a part-time legal secretary and folk singer, graduating magna cum laude in elementary education in 1980 and later earning a master's degree in instructional technology from the same institution. 

She is on leave of absence from her teaching position at the Christmas Box House Children's Shelter, a one-room school and residential facility for K-6 children awaiting placement in foster homes.
 
She and her husband Ruel now live in Washington, D.C. and frequently visit their two sons and a grandchild in Utah. 

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.