COEUR d'ALENE — Rural educators have experience and perspectives that matter. 

That's why state and national leaders of the country's largest labor union, the National Education Association, said they came to North Idaho this week, meeting Friday with educators in Coeur d'Alene and Kellogg. 

"I want rural schools to know they are important to the National Education Association," NEA President Princess Moss told The Press. "We are being very intentional about listening so I can lift them up at the national level and we can advocate for the resources they need and share the positive things happening in our rural schools." 

Idaho Education Association President Peggy Hoy said rural educators are sometimes left out of national conversations affecting them, making the visit to North Idaho more important. 

"It's so important that our teachers are seen and heard by people who make decisions," said Hoy, who worked for the Twin Falls School District for more than 30 years and launched the NEA's Rural Schools Caucus. "It's harder to get seats at the table for rural schools." 

NEA represents roughly 3 million public school teachers and other staff nationwide, including thousands in Idaho. 

Connie Wilkerson, president of Lakeland Education Association, and Jake Smulkowski, president of Post Falls Education Association, were among the members who met with union leaders Friday. Both teach fifth grade, Wilkerson at Spirit Lake Elementary and Smulkowski at Ponderosa Elementary. 

"Public education is for everyone," Wilkerson said. "It is not based on political or party lines." 

The pair said North Idaho educators shared with union leaders the challenges posed by proximity to Washington, which offers significantly higher teacher pay than Idaho on average. 

They also described the challenges of teaching in a state where funding formulas mean that zip codes determine what education students receive. 

"A kid in Bonners Ferry deserves as good of an education as a kid in Coeur d'Alene," Smulkowski said. 

Union leaders and members also discussed the growing difficulty of passing supplemental levies, which Wilkerson said are fundamental in all but name because of "chronic underfunding" of Idaho's public schools, and the impact of new legislation targeting teachers' unions. 

This year, Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill prohibiting schools from letting unions deduct dues from teachers' paychecks and giving teachers paid time off for a wide range of union activities. 

"HB 516 is a challenge," Hoy said. "It's not going to stop us." 

Smulkowski said the law won't change the positive relationships that already exist between NEA and school districts throughout Idaho, though he believes the bill was designed to do just that. 

"It's a thorn in the side and it's inconvenient," he said. "But it doesn't change the power that we have together." 

If anything, Smulkowski said, the legislation shows the union's strength in Idaho. 

"It does suggest that our organization has power, if the Legislature feels the need to rein us in," he said. 

Moss' three-year term as NEA president began Sept. 1. She said she aims to move NEA "from resistance to renaissance" by focusing not on defending against attacks on public education and responding to decisions but on shaping those decisions and building the future that students deserve. 

"If you care about students, then we invite you to support public schools," she said.