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The NEA/AEA will attempt to scuttle school choice forever.

Dale Jackson is a thought leader for Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on WVNN, on Talk 99.5 from 10-11 a.m., and on Talk Radio 103.9 FM/730AM WUMP from noon to 1 p.m.

The Alabama Republican Party and Alabama Education Association leadership have become increasingly at odds with one another over rules and legislation that has been proposed recently.

The rule change at the center of the latest debate has been suggested by ALGOP Chairman John Wahl. The new rule, if enacted, would prohibit campaign contributions from state and national teachers groups for some GOP candidates.

“The Alabama Republican Party is strongly committed to protecting our children from indoctrination in the classroom by left wing groups like the NEA (National Education Association) and its affiliated organizations,” said Wahl. “Parents should decide what their children learn about divisive concepts, not education unions that have lost touch with the values of the American people.

“Transgender ideology and other woke policies have no place in our schools, period.”

Wahl said that he wants Alabama educational representatives to be beholden to parents, not special interest groups.

“It’s a blatant conflict of interest, and something that needs to be addressed,” he said. “Our elected school representatives must be responsible to Alabama parents, not special interest groups. My proposal would stop this conflict of interest, and is no different than the state’s prohibition on members of the Alabama Public Service Commission accepting donations from the utilities they regulate.

“The bottom line is it’s time to get woke agendas out of our curriculum and out of our classrooms.”

In the past 24 hours alone though the argument has increased with AEA Executive Director Amy Marlowe disputing Wahl’s “false accusations.”

“It is irresponsible of ALGOP Chairman John Wahl to make false accusations of the Alabama Education Association’s standards and mission,” she said. “The ‘A’ in AEA stands for Alabama – and we take pride in Alabama’s values. Our voluntary membership comprises almost 90,000 Alabamians, with 72% identifying as conservative Republican voters.

“Our focus is on education with no partisan perspective or fringe ideologies. We do not feed into the narrative of the baseless culture wars expressed in Wahl’s press release – and we ask that he or other party leaders bring forth any person who has said they have been lobbied by AEA advocating for the concepts referenced in his release.

“Republican leaders have expressed a desire for the party to be focused on the ALGOP’s core values and the upcoming 2024 election. As always, AEA will continue with its primary mission to advocate for all Alabama teachers and educators.”

Wahl, however, questioned if the organization was truly interested in promoting “Alabama values.”

“It’s ironic that the AEA would take offense to my comments regarding woke policies, considering they are affiliates of the NEA (National Education Association), who make no secret of their promoting transgender and woke policies,” he said. “If they are serious about supporting Alabama values, they are free to disassociate from the NEA at any time.

“It’s also important to remember that just a few weeks ago, they sent an update to their members promoting that a divisive concepts bill was defeated, and bragging about how they killed school choice, and opposed the Republican-led effort by the state legislature to cut the state grocery tax.”

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.

When hunting was the major source of food, hunters often used stalking horses as a means of sneaking up on their prey. They would synchronize their steps on the side of the horse away from their prey until they were close enough for a good shot. A stalking horse had a double benefit if the prey was an armed person. If the stalkers were discovered, it would be the horse that took the first shot. That’s what blacks are to liberals and progressives in their efforts to transform America — stalking horses. Let’s look at it.

I’ll just list a few pieces of the leftist agenda that would be unachievable without black political support. Black people are the major victims of the grossly rotten education in our big-city schools. The average black 12th-grader can read, write and compute no better than a white seventh- or eighth-grader. Many black parents want better and safer schools for their children. According to a 2015 survey of black parents, 72 percent “favor public charter schools, and 70 percent favor a system that would create vouchers parents could use to cover tuition for those who want to enroll their children in a private or parochial school.” Black politicians and civil rights organizations fight tooth and nail against charter schools and education vouchers. Why? The National Education Association sees charters and vouchers as a threat to its education monopoly. It is able to use black politicians and civil rights organizations as stalking horses in its fight to protect its education monopoly.

The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 was the nation’s first federally mandated minimum wage law. Its explicit intent was to discriminate against black construction workers. During the legislative debate on the Davis-Bacon Act, quite a few congressmen, along with union leaders, expressed their racist intentions. Rep. Miles Allgood, D-Ala., said: “Reference has been made to a contractor from Alabama who went to New York with bootleg labor. This is a fact. That contractor has cheap colored labor that he transports, and he puts them in cabins, and it is labor of that sort that is in competition with white labor throughout the country.” American Federation of Labor President William Green said, “Colored labor is being sought to demoralize wage rates.”

The Davis-Bacon Act is still law today. Supporters do not use the 1931 racist language to support it. Plus, nearly every black member of Congress supports the Davis-Bacon Act. But that does not change its racially discriminatory effects. In recent decades, the Davis-Bacon Act has been challenged, and it has prevailed. That would not be the case without unions’ political and financial support to black members of Congress to secure their votes.

Crime is a major problem in many black neighborhoods. In 2016, there were close to 8,000 blacks murdered, mostly by other blacks. In that year, 233 blacks were killed by police. Which deaths receive the most attention from politicians, civil rights groups and white liberals and bring out marches, demonstrations and political pontification? It’s the blacks killed by police. There’s little protest against the horrible and dangerous conditions under which many poor and law-abiding black people must live. Political hustlers blame their condition on poverty and racism — ignoring the fact that poverty and racism were much greater yesteryear, when there was not nearly the same amount of chaos. Also ignored is the fact that the dangerous living conditions worsened under a black president’s administration.

There are several recommendations that I might make. The first and most important is that black Americans stop being useful tools for the leftist hate-America agenda. As for black politicians and civil rights leaders, if they’re going to sell their people down the river, they should demand a higher price. For example, if black congressmen vote in support of the Davis-Bacon Act, they ought to demand that construction unions give 30 percent of the jobs to black workers. Finally, many black problems are exacerbated by white liberal guilt. White liberals ought to stop feeling guilty so they can be more respectful in their relationships with black Americans.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A study from the Education Intelligence Agency revealed that union membership for Alabama teachers is down 31.6 percent over the last five years, and 16 percent in the 2014-2015 school year alone.

The MacIver Institute of Wisconsin noted that the trend is reflective of what is occurring nationwide. According to MacIver, twenty-eight states reported union membership losses in 2015. More then 12,000 active members left the National Education Council last year, a 0.5 percentage drop. Since 2011, the organization’s active membership across the country has dropped by almost 10 percent.

More than 10,000 members left the Alabama Education Association (AEA) in the previous school year, yet another in a series of recent indicators signaling the group’s precipitous decline.

The first cracks in the group’s armor became evident after the 2014 election cycle. Despite spending roughly $7 million in the primaries, the AEA won zero statewide races, zero state senate races and only a handful of state house seats.

That election cycle forced the AEA “out of the [campaign] business” and the group is now spending every dollar it earns paying down its massive debt. According to campaign finance reports filed earlier in 2016, it spent $2.1 of its $2.2 million in 2015 revenue paying off loans. AEA spent a total of $12 million on races in 2014, far more than any other organization in the state.

In light of the AEA’s implosion – and now evident mass exodus – a coalition of education leaders announced in December the formation of Alabama Unites for Education (AUE), an advocacy group that appears poised to fill the void.

The announcement received scant media attention late last year, but beyond the group’s relatively vague description and the broad statements of support from education leaders, Alabama United for Education could bring on a seismic shift in Alabama politics, impacting both policy debates and electoral fights for years to come.

Conservatives had long viewed the AEA as the “Dark Side” in Alabama politics, and not only because of its liberal political leanings, but also because the state’s education system continued to rank 49th or 50th year after year, in spite of the AEA’s total control.

The traditionally white Alabama Education Association’s rise to power began when it merged with the traditionally black Alabama State Teachers Association in 1969. Paul Hubbert was named executive secretary of the newly-formed group and Joe Reed was named associate executive secretary.

For much of the next four decades, Hubbert was widely considered the most powerful political figure in the state, and he ruled with an iron fist. Hubbert was known for sitting in the gallery overlooking the Legislature and giving hand signals indicating which way he wanted lawmakers to vote on whatever bill was being considered.

But the group’s stranglehold on the state began to loosen in 2010 when Alabama voters elected Republicans to their first legislative majority in 136 years. Hubbert retired in 2011, but the organization he built continued to be a major player in state politics, at least for a period of time.

Now, with numbers plummeting and influence almost non-existent, the AEA is only a shell of its former self, and many across the State of Alabama think that change is for the better.

Former AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert (Photo: YouTube)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — One year ago today the venerable Paul Hubbert, founder and longtime leader of the Alabama Education Association (AEA), passed away only a few years after officially retiring. Under his leadership the teachers’ union was unarguably the most powerful force in Alabama politics, but since Hubbert’s retirement and death the once formidable organization’s influence has significantly waned.

Though the AEA’s slide truly began in November 2010 when a Republican majority was elected to the Alabama Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, overwhelming evidence of the organization’s unraveling come to the forefront just a month before Hubbert’s passing.

“With great reluctance, but with absolute conviction of its necessity, I write this letter to you to inform you of the immediate danger, in fact crisis, in which our association finds itself,” Hubbert wrote to the AEA Board in September of 2014. “AEA has been a strong organization for many years because of its large membership and its strong financial position. Both of these appear to be under threat now.”

Hubbert said the problems facing the AEA came from both inside and outside the organization. The external challenges, he believed, were posed by the Republican supermajority in the legislature and the strain on the AEA’s finances brought on by a new law prohibiting them and other politically active organizations from using taxpayer resources to collect membership dues.

Internally, Hubbert pointed the finger directly at his successor, Dr. Henry Mabry, who took over the post when Hubbert retired in 2012.

“The style, personality and performance of the Executive Secretary have created intolerable friction between AEA and members of both parties in the Legislature with resultant loss of respect, standing and influence,” Hubbert bluntly wrote of Mabry. “Legislators and others complain that telephone calls are not returned during the session. The Executive Secretary’s style has been described as a ‘bull in a china shop who carries the shop with him wherever he goes.’ The Executive Secretary has been advised to ‘stay out of the Legislature.’ Specific comments and questions from members of the Legislature include, ‘How long is AEA going to keep Mabry?’ to ‘Mabry is killing AEA in the Legislature.'”

Two months later the 2014 elections only strengthened Republican majorities, despite an estimated $20 million in teachers’ dues being used to support failed candidates.

“The AEA’s days are done,” said Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) on election night. “We want to work with the education community to establish good education policies. We’re committed to that. We want to make sure our teachers are paid well. We want to make sure they have great benefits. But we can do all of that without the AEA union. Their mentality is ‘attack, attack, attack.’ I want to work with our state’s teachers directly, not with the AEA.”

Hubbert’s concerns coupled with the union’s defeat at the ballot box proved too much for Mabry, when in February of this year he was summarily fired by the AEA board. The board also requested that the National Education Association, the AEA’s even more liberal umbrella organization, intervene to implement the regime change.

This summer that national-level intervention was called into question by longtime leaders within the AEA, who said the organization is being “occupied” by the NEA.

“This letter comes to express our deep concern over the current ‘Takeover’ of the Alabama
Education Association (AEA) by the National Education Association (NEA) in the name of Trusteeship,” wrote former AEA leaders and current Alabama Democratic Party bosses Joe Reed and Nancy Worley. “Under the facts and circumstances of the current ‘Takeover,’ there are no grounds for NEA to occupy AEA.”

“Don’t force us to fight an organization we love, respect and support,” the authors continued. “This is an ‘internal family issue,’ but the House is severely Divided. We all know that a House Divided cannot stand. It is going to take many years to repair the damage already done.”

Where the once-powerful AEA goes from here remains to be seen, but members say one thing is for certain: not much will improve until it can find a leader that balances the disparate interests of its leaders while working with the Republican supermajority and maintaining what’s actually best for education professionals.

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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015

Former AEA leader and Alabama Democratic Party leader Joe Reed

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Education Association (AEA) leaders are lashing out at the teachers’ union’s current trusteeship under its parent organization, the National Education Association (NEA), saying in a letter that the AEA is being “occupied” by the NEA.

The letter, dated July 2nd, is signed by former AEA leaders Joe Reed and Nancy Worley—who are both currently leaders within the Alabama Democratic Party—as well as four former AEA presidents.

“This letter comes to express our deep concern over the current ‘Takeover’ of the Alabama
Education Association (AEA) by the National Education Association (NEA) in the name of Trusteeship,” they wrote. “Under the facts and circumstances of the current ‘Takeover,’ there are no grounds for NEA to occupy AEA.”

That damage is a tumultuous change in leadership after longtime power broker and boss Paul Hubbert retired, then passed away, coupled with drastic changes in the state legislature—where Hubbert wielded unprecedented power—the AEA’s 2014 was disastrous.

Even after spending approximately $20 million during the primary and general elections, the AEA’s PAC, A-VOTE, failed to win a single seat for the candidates it supported. According to their most recent 990 form, the AEA spent $8.5 million more than it took in during Fiscal Year 2014.

“Finally,” the letter concludes, “NEA is occupying our organization illegally and without justification. NEA should call the Special Trustee home because if the NEA continues to trespass, the AEA, the strong organization we built over the past 45 years, will be DEAD! We do not concede that the NEA Trusteeship is legal and we are determined to take our association back!”

Both Reed and Worley told the Montgomery Advertiser they had not received a reply from the NEA.

Reed highlighted his particular concern that the NEA’s Trustee would dissolve the AEA’s 46-year-old merger with the predominately black Alabama State Teachers’ Association.

“There are certain things that are there and ought to stay there, for instance, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “The merger agreement we have has got to stay.”

AEA president Sheila Hocutt Remington said in a statement Tuesday that the letter was “inaccurate” and “designed to divert attention from the positive direction AEA is taking to support educators and Alabama schools.”

“AEA is successful because it has been a member-driven association for more than 150 years,” she said. “While some people will always be uncomfortable with change and will cling to vestiges of the past, AEA and its membership is focused on what matters most – preparing students for a new school year that will begin throughout Alabama next week.”

While the AEA and the Alabama Democratic party were virtually synonymous for years, the NEA often tacks even further left than its Alabama affiliate.

Last fall NEA President Lily Eskelsen García hailed President Obama’s controversial executive actions on immigration as “bold,” “necessary” and “morally right,” and pledged that educators in Alabama and around the country will continue pushing for Congress to expand on what the President has done.

“(A) growing number of public school students live in fear that our nation’s immigration policies will break up their families, forcing them to choose between their country and their loved ones,” said García. “That’s why we welcome the president’s proposal to expand Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).”

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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Yellowhammer learned Tuesday morning that the Alabama Education Association (AEA), whose precipitous fall from power over the last few years has shocked many longtime observers of Alabama politics, has been placed under trusteeship by the teachers’ union’s national umbrella organization.

After spending roughly $20 million in the 2014 election cycle with little success, the AEA fired its executive secretary Henry Mabry in February after the National Education Association came in to take over operations.

Now, the NEA not only has control over the day-to-day operations of the AEA, it has also placed it under the authority of a trustee. A source with knowledge of the situation says the shift happened because “The NEA recognizes that AEA bet on politics, lost big and is now on organizational life support. They are taking over because AEA can’t support itself.”

The AEA is only the third NEA affiliate in history to be taken over by the national organization, after South Carolina’s and Indiana’s were placed under trusteeship in 2010 and 2009, respectively.

Yellowhammer reached out to the NEA for comment, but had not heard back as of press time. AEA manager of research Amy Marlowe told Yellowhammer Tuesday afternoon that, “Nothing has changed at AEA since Dr. Mabry was placed on leave by the AEA board of directors. The AEA board made that decision and every decision since that night.”

While the AEA and the Alabama Democratic party were virtually synonymous for years, the NEA often tacks even further left than its Alabama affiliate.

The NEA takeover also brings into question the AEA’s ability to adapt to Republican control.

Despite decades of warnings to their members that education funds would dry up without their advocacy in Montgomery, the Fiscal Year 2016 eduction budget passed by the GOP supermajority and signed into law by Governor Robert Bentley (R-AL) is among the highest appropriations for education in the state’s history.

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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Education Association (AEA) board voted to fire Executive Secretary Henry Mabry Saturday, after reports that teachers’ union cleaned house during a closed door executive meeting late last night, ousting Executive Secretary Henry Mabry and revoking building access to former Associate Executive Secretary Joe Reed.

The AEA Board reportedly voted to request assistance from the National Education Association (NEA) in implementing the regime change.

This was a difficult decision by the Board but one that was necessary to close a difficult chapter in AEA’s recent past and turn to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead,” AEA President Anita Gibson said. “We cannot and will not dwell on the past but must move forward and build for the future.”

Gibson said Mabry will have a termination hearing.

Reed has been a mainstay at the AEA since the black teachers’ union he led, the Alabama State Teachers Association, and the late AEA boss Paul Hubbert merged to create the modern AEA in 1969. Though he retired in 2011, he was still a frequent presence at the union’s headquarters.

The firing was prompted by an audit conducted by the organization after a letter from Hubbert raised the alarm of misspent funds, an unhealthy work environment, and “intolerable friction between AEA and members of both parties in the Legislature.”

The AEA came under additional fire after a disastrous 2014 election season in which they spent approximately $20 million of teachers’ money without winning a single targeted election in November.

Once considered the single most powerful group in Alabama politics, the AEA’s influence began to wane as the state turned more and more Republican leading up to the 2010 elections, when the GOP took the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction.

The retirement, and subsequent death of long-time AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert, seemingly sealed the union’s fate, as new leadership struggled to maintain Hubbert’s loyal network and stranglehold on the inner workings of state politics.

The AEA has yet to appoint a new executive secretary, though with the legislative session approaching quickly, we expect them to name a new leader soon. Gibson indicated the AEA will still make the defeat of charter school legislation a top priority during the session.

This story is still developing and will be updated as more details emerge.

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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015

The Foundation for Accountability in Education has just gone up on statewide TV with a crushing anti-Alabama Education Association (AEA) ad driving home conservatives’ belief that the AEA is the biggest obstacle to improving education in Alabama, and noting that the liberal group is now running candidates in Republican primaries.

Here’s the transcript of the ad titled, “If I Wanted Our Children to Fail…” which can be viewed above.

If I wanted our children to fail …
… I’d need a stranglehold on the public schools.
And I’d use the power of liberal big government unions to get it.
I’d fill their coffers with your tax dollars …
… And bankroll politicians who’d block reform.
Then, I’d make it impossible to pay our best teachers more money …
… And equally impossible for our poorest families to escape the schools that are failing them.
I’d call myself the “Alabama Education Association.”
But I wouldn’t fight for education. Or students. Or parents. Or our best teachers.
I’d fight for mediocrity over merit and seniority instead of success.
If I wanted our children to fail …
I’d even slip liberal politicians into our primaries, pretend they were conservatives
… and hope you didn’t notice.

Sponsored by Foundation for Accountability in Education.

Let’s take a minute to dissect the ad, breaking down what real-world situation each line is probably describing.

Line:
If I wanted our children to fail …
… I’d need a stranglehold on the public schools.

Explanation:
From The Daily Caller —

For much of the last four decades, the Alabama Education Association has risen to become one of the most powerful teachers’ unions in the country. As odd as it may seem in a dark red state, over the years long-time AEA executive director Paul Hubbert, oftentimes described as the “shadow governor” of Alabama, has earned his union the distinction of being one of the most politically involved organizations of its type in the country.

Line:
And I’d use the power of liberal big government unions to get it.
I’d fill their coffers with your tax dollars …
… And bankroll politicians who’d block reform.

Explanation:
The AEA is the Alabama affiliate of the National Education Association, America’s largest teachers’ union.

The NEA and their affiliates spent $2,475,284 on lobbying in 2013. They have so far in the 2014 election cycle been the top contributing group of any organization in the US, making $17,627,865 in political contributions (ranked #1 of 12,890 groups tracked by OpenSecrets.org). And the overwhelming majority of that money goes to liberals.

This bar shows the difference in the number of Democrats the NEA has donated to this cycle, compared to the number of Republicans (Blue = Dem, Red = GOP).

Students, teachers, parents, and hardworking Americans are all victims of what the video below describes as a “political machine” that takes money out of taxpayers’ wallets and gives it to union bosses, who turn around and put it in the pockets of politicians. This video is the best explanation we’ve seen of how the teachers’ union coffers are being filled with our tax dollars.

Line:
Then, I’d make it impossible to pay our best teachers more money …
… And equally impossible for our poorest families to escape the schools that are failing them.

Explanation:
Here’s what the AEA’s own website says about paying teachers based on how well they perform in the classroom:

“The idea of merit pay, also called pay for performance, in public schools is destructive.”

The AEA also fought tooth and nail to stop Alabama’s landmark school choice bill, which allows students in chronically failing schools to transfer to successful schools and offers scholarships to students from low-income families.

AEA boss Henry Mabry called this “insanity.”

Line:
I’d call myself the “Alabama Education Association.”
But I wouldn’t fight for education. Or students. Or parents. Or our best teachers.
I’d fight for mediocrity over merit and seniority instead of success.

Explanation:
The AEA fought a bill in the Alabama Legislature this year that would have made teacher effectiveness a consideration when school districts are forced to make layoffs due to tight budgets. Many districts currently use seniority as the deciding factor in which teachers stay. The last teacher hired is the first teacher fired, regardless of his or her impact on students. This is called “last in first out,” or simply “LIFO.”

Line:
If I wanted our children to fail …
I’d even slip liberal politicians into our primaries, pretend they were conservatives
… and hope you didn’t notice.

Explanation:
The Alabama Education Association has been the single biggest contributor to Democrats in Alabama for Decades. That continues now, even though Republicans took the majority. But the AEA realizes that Democrats can’t win in many areas of the state, so they are donating massive sums of money to candidates they have recruited to run in GOP primaries.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims