The Obama administration backs merit pay for teachers, linking test scores to teacher evaluations, and making tenure harder to achieve, but the National Education Association still has a little love for the president.

They plan to endorse his re-election bid. Today, NEA’s political action committee approved the recommendation, but it’s not a done deal.

This summer, the Representative Assembly, which is the 9,000-member policymaking body of the NEA, still has to approve it. After all, this is the same group that cast a “no confidence” vote in Race to the Top, Obama’s signature education-reform effort. They also considered, at least briefly, a vote on whether Obama should dump Education Secretary Arne Duncan. And they’ve been known to boo Duncan and his ideas, too.

But NEA president Dennis Van Roekel said today, in a statement: “It is time to stand strong for what we believe in and what is right for students and families, schools and the nation. President Barack Obama has proven he deserves a second term.”

The NEA is endorsing much quicker this time around. In the hard-fought 2008 primary, the 3.2-million-member group waited a loooonnng time to endorse.

Read more about this endorsement over at Teacher Beat.