How many members does the North Carolina Association of Educators have?
It’s a question we’ve been asking a lot lately. Why? The State Legislature said in order for schools to provide dues check off option, NCAE must have at least 40,000 members, 20,000 of whom must be active public school teachers.
Last year, the State Legislature asked the State Auditor to certify those numbers. Yesterday the State Auditor issued a report saying that it couldn’t; “[a]fter numerous requests, the NCAE refused to furnish the information.”
So what to make of this?
If NCAE had 40,000 members, don’t you think they would be more than happy to tell us? Recent estimates suggest they don’t and NCAE has been unwilling to demonstrate that they meet the requirement.
In light of this defiance, we call on the the state controller as well as local school boards to suspend collection of dues check off from NCAE members or the members of any other organization that has not demonstrated compliance with state law.
NCAE’s strategy has been to drag this out this audit as long as possible. They have succeeded.
Also, it hasn’t escaped our attention that the audit report was released and went up onto the web site on a Friday afternoon, two weeks before Christmas.
Do you think someone wanted to bury the story?
While others may hope nobody notices, we do. It’s not right for NCAE to claim dues check off if they are unwilling to comply with state law. Period.
Administration of the benefit should be stopped, as soon as possible.
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