A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
As the Trump administration continues its efforts to shrink the federal government's role in education, members of the nation's largest teacher union have been meeting in Portland, Oregon. Natalie Pate from member station OPB traveled to the gathering to hear what teachers are saying.
NATALIE PATE, BYLINE: Morale among many educators amid ongoing federal cuts hasn't been great.
WES JENSEN: We're burned out. We've been burned out since COVID, and this certainly doesn't help that.
PATE: Wes Jensen (ph) is a middle school social studies teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. He's one of thousands of educators in Portland this week for the National Education Association's annual meeting, where they'll be talking about educator pay, working conditions, mental health support and more.
JENSEN: More and more people are like, I would love to be a teacher, but I can go somewhere else and know I'm safe and not under attack.
PATE: Jensen says being among other educators has given him a bit of a lift, but that only goes so far.
JENSEN: I can care about my kids all I want, and I will do everything in my power, but what is the greater community and our government doing? And so it's just a lot of unknown right now.
PATE: The union has said this gathering, quote, "won't be business as usual." The conference comes as the Trump administration is working to close the U.S. Education Department and dramatically reduce the federal government's role in schooling. Just this week, the administration announced it was withholding billions in grant funding for after-school programs, English language learners, migrant education and more. Kelley Fisher (ph), a kindergarten teacher from Arizona, has worked as an educator for more than two decades. She says funding issues have always been at the back of her mind, but this year feels different.
KELLEY FISHER: Now it's right there at the forefront to have to deal with.
PATE: She's especially worried about children losing access to free school meals.
FISHER: My students, many of them, come to school for a free breakfast and a free lunch and often take home bags of groceries to support their families.
PATE: If families can't rely on that, she worries some students will go hungry. Cynthia Henderson (ph) has been an educator in Louisiana for more than 40 years. She's a leader of her state union chapter.
CYNTHIA HENDERSON: The class sizes are larger. The funding is not there. And I think that overall, with the cuts, that is more challenging now than it ever has been.
PATE: The teachers say they hope to walk away from this annual meeting with renewed energy and a plan of action moving forward. They'll be meeting here through Sunday.
For NPR News, I'm Natalie Pate in Portland.
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