State Auditor: NCAE Refuses to Cooperate | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Bob Luebke, was originally published in the economics section of Civitas's online edition.

    A new report from State Auditor Beth Wood says the agency has not been able to certify that the North Carolina Association of Educators meets statutory membership (G.S. 143B-426.40(g) requirements to permit the state to perform payroll dues deductions. According to the report:

• We were unable to obtain the total membership count and type of membership count from the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). 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.

    This is the third year in a row NCAE has refused to furnish the information for certification.

    The State Auditor has no authority to compel NCAE - a private organization - to furnish the information. Yet the state continues to provide services to the organization even though it refuses to comply with the law.

    According to the Auditor's report North Carolina provides payroll dues deduction for about 45,000 employees, 6,400 of which are NCAE employees.

    There is no reason why the state should provide administrative services for a private entity. The logical solution to this problem is to end the practice altogether,

    SB 375, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Hise was crafted to do just that; end the collection of all payroll dues deductions. The bill passed the Senate but died in the House.

    Why wouldn't NCAE cooperate with the State Auditor? The only reason not to is that NCAE membership in North Carolina is below 40,000, a fact that has been reported by teacher union watcher Mike Antonucci for a number of years.

    Legislators have turned a blind eye to these realities for three years. The failure of to address the wrongdoing is beginning to say more about lawmakers than about the NCAE.