DATE: Saturday, July 5, 1997                TAG: 9707050058

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ATLANTA                           LENGTH:   47 lines

NEA DELEGATES BACK AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LARGEST TEACHERS UNION SUPPORTS PREFERENTIAL HIRING OF WOMEN AND MINORITIES.

The nation's largest teachers union renewed its support of affirmative action Friday in the midst of congressional and legal challenges, including a pivotal Supreme Court case involving schools.

Delegates at the union's annual assembly agreed by voice vote after little debate to urge local unions to endorse preferential hiring of women and minorities in education to cure past discrimination or assure diversity among employees.

Many of the 9,000 members of the National Education Association had left the convention before the vote because of the late hour on the national holiday.

Local unions will still be free to take their own positions, especially when trying to reconcile demands of affirmative action with those of seniority.

``They can opt for affirmative action, they can opt for seniority, they can opt for a combination of the two,'' said Bob Chanin, the NEA's top attorney.

NEA president Bob Chase said the recommendations from a special committee on affirmative action give a sharper focus to the union's stance. The affirmative action policy is now a patchwork of different statements issued over the years.

On the eve of the vote, Chase told reporters that delegates ``will have to make some specific decisions whether or not this is the way we want to move, especially at a time when affirmative action has been under the spotlight for some time.''

Congressional Republicans are pushing legislation that would remove race and gender criteria from federal employment, contracting and other programs.

Critics say that affirmative action plans cause racial division. Supporters say racial, ethnic and gender barriers remain in a country whose ethnic mix is changing.

In 1995, the Education Department said that only 13 percent of America's estimated 2.6 million teachers were minorities, while a third of public school students were.

A case that the Supreme Court recently agreed to consider will put the union to a test.

The court agreed last month to hear arguments whether the Piscataway School Board in New Jersey unlawfully laid off a white teacher to protect an equally qualified black teacher.

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