The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) has refused to furnish information as requested multiple times by the NC State Auditor’s office, according to the audit report published on December 11th, 2015.

Long awaited @NCStateAuditor‘s report on NCAE membership NCAE “refused” to turn over documents… #ncpol #ncga pic.twitter.com/PqqzAxkzs8

— A.P. Dillon – LL1885 (@LadyLiberty1885) December 11, 2015

Link to the Auditor Report on NCAE membership count: https://t.co/VEycbKRD0m “NCAE refused to furnish the information” #NCpol #NCed #ncga

— A.P. Dillon – LL1885 (@LadyLiberty1885) December 11, 2015

From the audit’s findings page:

We were not able to verify and certify the total membership count and type of membership count and/or public school teacher membership count due to the following:

• There are no known reports or central reporting mechanism for employee associations that compile and collectively present the required information in a format that would enable us to apply certain audit procedures to verify and certify the membership counts and type of employee.

• There is no centralized authorization or formal oversight to ensure that payroll deductions are executed in accordance with this law.

• We were unable to obtain the total membership count and type of membership count from the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). After numerous requests, the NCAE refused to furnish the information. We do not have the authority to compel NCAE to turn over this information because, as a private entity, NCAE does not fall under the authority of the State Auditor. However, NCAE reported a total membership count of approximately 70,000 on their website as of October 27, 2015. We were not able to confirm this membership count.

There are currently over 96,000 teachers in the state. If the NCAE is reporting 70,000 as members on their website, then it stands to reason they have the ability to identify them.

If the NCAE wants to avoid a fight over their dues check off again, it would be in their best interest to turn over the data. Instead they NCAE “refused”  — multiple times.  What’s even more telling is that the NCAE refused to return calls from their friends in the media, WRAL.

Here’s the back story as to why this is a big deal:

The NCAE has been a constant participant in the Blueprint NC created and NAACP driven Moral Monday, both in protests and in multiple lawsuits against Republican legislators starting right after the NCGA flipped to Republican control after the 2010 election.

The NCAE and their protest arm, Organize 2020, proceeded to coordinate protests on school campuses in 2013.  They called these protests “Walk-Ins”. The NCAE made the mistake of trying to pull this at my child’s elementary school and send a union propaganda flier home in my kid’s homework folder.

2011
Senate bill 727 or the ‘No Dues Check off’ bill  is passed. The major thing that this bill did was remove the collection of dues for the group via automatic payroll deduction.

Governor Perdue vetoed it.

2012

The General Assembly overrode Perdue’s veto and General Statute 143B-426.40A(g) was changed.

The NCAE sues the General Assembly over SB 727 and requests a temporary restraining order and injunction.  The NCAE argues their ‘free speech is being suppressed’.

2013: Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner rules in favor of the NCAE and said that SB 727 “constitutes retaliatory viewpoint discrimination” and it violates the group’s free speech rights.

2014
The General assembly modifies General Statute 143B-426.40A(g).  The changes require the State Auditor to verify and certify membership for employees associations.

See page two of the state auditor’s report for the specific language, but understand that the NCAE must meet a 40,000 membership threshold in order  to continue with automatic payroll deductions for dues.

2015
The official audit report was published on Friday, December 11th.  In the report, it is noted that the NCAE has “refused” to furnish the information requested by the State Auditor. Civitas institute had been asking about the status of this NCAE membership audit for months, by the way.

The auditor’s report notes the figure of 9,452 NCAE members utilizing government payroll deduction.

A letter predating the official report publication from Sen. Hise to the state controller’s office was obtained by WRAL. That letter is dated December 2, 2015 and in it, Hise expresses his concern over the NCAE’s refusal to cooperate with the state auditor and asks the controller to cease deductions, as the NCAE is in violation of the law.

2016
A big question mark? Will NCAE sue again? Probably. Will they lose this time? Likely, unless they comply with the law and turn over the information requested by the auditor.

Related Reading:

• State Auditor, WCPSS Respond to Civitas Inquiry; NCAE Remains Silent
• NCAE and Roy Cooper: back to the — not so great — future
• NCAE membership down 12 percent
• How Teachers Can Give Themselves a Raise — An average raise of $450 dollars