Civitas targets NCAE membership

Published August 8, 2014

by Under the Dome, News and Observer, August 7, 2014.

Not far from the N.C. Association of Educators’ headquarters in Raleigh looms a billboard asking “Teachers: Want a $450 raise?”

It’s part of a campaign by the conservative Civitas Institute to get teachers to drop their NCAE memberships. The billboard, one of seven around the state, sends teachers to a website that advises them not only how to end their NCAE membership but identifies other teacher associations as alternatives.

NCAE has been a target the past few years. A 2012 law, invalidated by the court, would have ended the ability of school employees to have their dues automatically deducted from their paychecks. The legislature in recent years began offering school employees professional liability insurance, a perk that comes with NCAE membership. The Civitas opt-out website reminds teachers of their state-sponsored insurance. “Teachers and other school staff no longer need NCAE,” the site says.

Although NCAE has worked hard the last few years to establish relationships with Republican legislators, it built its reputation as one of the forces behind Democrats.

NCAE endorsed incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan this spring, even before House Speaker Thom Tillis was chosen as the Republican nominee.

Teachers and NCAE leaders have been prominent at Moral Monday demonstrations against state GOP policies.

Officers with NCAE could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Civitas is a Raleigh think tank created and financed by the John W. Pope Foundation, the family foundation of the outgoing state budget director Art Pope.

The billboard and website help remind busy teachers of the deadline to drop their memberships, said Jim Tynen, Civitas spokesman.

“When I look at some of the memberships I have, I’m not always aware of the fine print,” Tynen said.

The billboards are Civitas’ contribution to National Employee Freedom Week, a nationwide campaign running from Aug. 10-16. It’s sponsored by state and national groups such as the Heritage Foundation and American for Limited Government to encourage workers to leave their unions.

The North Carolina effort will also include ads and postcards, Tynen said. Most of the billboards will be up though this month, and a few will remain into September.

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August 8, 2014 at 10:13 am
Norm Kelly says:

'Although NCAE has worked hard the last few years to establish relationships with Republican legislators, it built its reputation as one of the forces behind Democrats'. How has the union worked hard to establish these relationships? Which Republican candidate has the union endorsed? Which Republican candidate has received money from the union? Which Republican bill in the legislature has the union endorsed? When the union encouraged its members to protest at the imMoral Monday protests led by the racist Mr. Barber, did they encourage their members to play nice with the Republicans and agree with ANY of their proposals/plans?

Even before there was a Republican candidate to run against K, the union endorsed K. How does this show that they want to establish ANY sort of relationship with Republicans? There could have been a very qualified Republican running against K, but the union chose to throw it's support behind the Demoncrat candidate anyway. Again. Like it always does. Just like the N&D editorial page. The N&D either endorses the Demoncrat candidate or it doesn't endorse anyone for the open position. The difference between the union ally of the demon party and the N&D ally of the demon party is virtually non-existent.

Even when the Republican legislature agrees to raises for teachers, how does the union respond? They complain & whine. When the demons last cut the education budget, how did the union respond? Did it cause them to endorse the Republican?

When was the last time the teachers union DID NOT support the demon candidate for ANY office? Even when the Republican majority on the Wake County school board were attempting to make the system responsive to parents, the teachers union fought against them. The demons on the school board lied to the citizens of Wake county and the union went along with them. The lie was that the board had made the decision to bus kids cross county for racial integration purposes. The fact of the matter was that it was cheaper to bus kids for over an hour than it was to hire good teachers to teach in the schools where kids were failing. When the Republicans attempted to give PARENTS choice, the demons and their union allies revolted. They made all kinds of claims that couldn't be supported. How did the union attempt to work WITH the Republican led school board to get satisfactory results? They didn't they worked to get demons as the majority again.

This ridiculous statement about the union attempting to forge a relationship with Republicans is then supported by some of the efforts to work AGAINST Republicans. The rest of the story documents how the union has done what it can to NOT support ANY effort of the Republicans. To the point where the union wouldn't even wait to find out who the Republican candidate would be against K. None of this editorial in the N&D supports their own premise. All of this post simply demonstrates for us non-teachers, non-union members how the union does the opposite of what the opening premise of the editorial really is. The truth about the union, with supporting documentation for why non-socialist teachers would want to drop their membership, is listed but not much is printed about how the union is working with anyone other than demons.

If I were a member of the union, any union, I would drop my membership if I knew they were working against my personal beliefs, as the teachers union is. And it's not just here in NC that unions are working against the citizens, parents, kids. The teachers unions across the country are working against families. Like the event in the mid-west were the topic was 'white privilege'. Not learning anything worthwhile for helping to educate kids. Working against parents. Not working to promote kids critical thinking skills, but trying to understand why some kid who has never done anything to a non-white kid has already discriminated against non-whites just by the nature of being born 'white'.

I can show you, with very little research, how the teachers union is working AGAINST everything Republican. You have the job of doing research and producing written statements about what you dig up. Yet you write something as useless as this post? Why bother? Making false statements, with documentation showing that you are making false statements, is a waste of your time, a waste of newspaper space, and a waste of reading time. Next time you have the notion to write, please write the truth first, then include statements that SUPPORT your theory. Unfortunately you know that too many people read the opening of a post, then quit part way through. In this case, the reader would be left with the impression that the union is worth staying in, financially supporting, and working with ALL legislators. Yet you go on to prove this impression is 100% wrong!