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Michael Billirakis, a social studies teacher at Perry High School in Perry (Lake County), Ohio, was elected to the National Education Association’s (NEA) Executive Committee in July 2002 and reelected in July 2005 for a second full three year tear, after fulfilling a one-year vacancy in 2001-02. He is now on the second year of his second full term.
Billirakis has been active in the NEA since he began teaching 33 years ago at Field High School in Portage County, Ohio. During his tenure as president of the Ohio Education Association (OEA) from 1994-2001 Billirakis was at the helm when the OEA challenged the Cleveland voucher program, which was eventually upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. OEA joined more than 500 schools challenging Ohio’s public school funding formula, resulting in billions of additional dollars for education funding. Under his leadership, OEA also stopped the state from eliminating due process rights for teachers.
In addition to serving as OEA’s vice president and president, Billirakis was president and an executive committee member of the Northeastern Ohio Education Association. He served on the Ohio Governor’s School Accountability Committee and currently sits on the board of directors for the State Teacher’s Retirement System, which has assets in excess of $67 billion, and is a Commissioner on the Education Commission of the States.
After graduating from Youngstown State University with a bachelor’s degree in history and a Master’s in European history, Billirakis completed 30 hours of graduate study in education at Akron University.
A native of the Island of Kalymnos in Greece, Billirakis immigrated to the Buckeye State when he was 12 years old. He and his wife, Valerie, now live in Pickerington, Ohio. Both of their daughters, Christine and Cynthia, are students at Ohio State University and are pursuing secondary education and elementary education, respectively.
The NEA Executive Committee is composed of the three NEA officers plus six members elected at-large by the nearly 9,000-member-Representative Assembly. | 