VPE is an independent, non-union professional association of teachers. We focus on the classroom and helping teachers with their professional needs and concerns.

We also represent your interests in front of the General Assembly, especially on issues like public education funding and protecting your VRS benefits.

We respect our members’ personal beliefs and political preferences – therefore VPE does not endorse political candidates or give money or support to any political campaign. VPE does not promote controversial social issues unrelated to education.

Our members are academic professionals, and we strongly believe teachers should be treated just like other professionals – such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers.

We support teachers as professionals. We also believe in expecting excellence and accountability from all education stakeholders – from teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members, parents, and students.

We believe that high standards for student behavior/discipline should be enforced, and that both students and parents should accept responsibility for student conduct.

We believe that professional teachers should have a choice of organizations. VPE has become that choice (and voice) for over 10,000 Virginia educators. We have been serving Virginia educators for over 20 years.

Across the country, over half a million teachers have joined non-union, state-based professional teacher associations like Virginia Professional Educators. In fact, there are large, non-union teacher associations like VPE in more than 30 states. These non-union teacher associations are actually bigger than the NEA state affiliates in about a half-dozen states.

We help teachers understand their legal and professional rights in a variety of situations. We also help them to avoid potentially dangerous or problematic situations where they may incur liability for themselves or for the school district.

We provide members with $2 million per member in legal and liability coverage, for only $15 a month! Other organizations charge $55 to $60 a month. We provide twice the coverage for ~1/4 the cost! Most teachers save $400 or more.

We provide Teacher Scholarships and Classroom Mini-Grants of up to $500 to our members for professional development and for class projects. These awards are competitive, but we are usually able to fund most of the requested projects. (We do give preference to members, but non-members are frequently funded as well.)

We believe that teachers have a right to choose which association best meets their needs. Teachers are professionals, and they are quite capable of making that decision for themselves. Freedom of association is a fundamental legal right.

Tracey Bailey

1993 National Teacher of the Year, USA
AP Physics, AP Biology and Chemistry
State Director,
Virginia Professional Educators

Patricia Currier

Library Media Specialist (Retired)
President,
Scott County Professional Educators

Philip Bigler

1998 National Teacher of the Year, USA
Humanities, Social Studies and History
Director (Retired),
The James Madison Center,
James Madison University

Jeanny Gilpin

2000 Roanoke County Teacher of the Year
Mathematics Teacher
Past President,
Salem City Professional Educators

Jill Seal

Spanish Teacher
Thomas Dale High School, Chesterfield
Co-President,
Chesterfield Professional Educators