Natalie Beyer, a volunteer board member for the liberal advocacy group Public Schools First NC, is disheartened by the Senate education budget. Commenting in the News and Observer, Beyer said,“It’s becoming more and more challenging to retain experienced teachers. NCAE reported it takes 15 years for a teacher in North Carolina to finally make $40,000. [...]
Politics bite law makers on dues check off law
Almost a year to the date that the State Legislature overrode a veto by the Governor in a late-night session, Wake County Circuit Court Judge Paul Gessner ruled that legislation prohibiting the state from collecting membership funds for the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) via dues check off was unconstitutional (see article). Judge Gessner [...]
How strong are teacher unions?
Last week I blogged about an EIA story reporting on the decline in NEA membership across the nation. Over the weekend, the Fordham Institute released How Strong Are U.S.Teacher Unions: A State by State Comparison. The authors should be commended for the breadth of the study (a three year undertaking) as well as the methodology [...]
NEA membership declines in US and NC
Earlier this week our friends at the Education Intelligence Agency (EIA) reported that 15 National Education Association (NEA) state affiliates ran budget deficits and 25 saw a decline in dues income. EIA analyzed the latest available state and national data (2010-11) and found NEA lost 2 percent of active membership. However because of increases in [...]
NEA and the “Enthusiasm Gap”
Our friend Mike Antonnuci at Education Intelligence Agency reports that four years after helping to propel Barack Obama to the presidency, members of the National Education Association (NEA) are suffering from a lack of enthusiasm for the current occupant of the White House. If it seemed like the National Education Association’s advocacy for the re-election of [...]
