Gov. Bev Perdue used one of her record 15 vetoes on Senate Bill 727, a measure eliminating the dues check off option for the 60,000-member North Carolina Association of Educators. The bill passed the Senate 31-16 and the House 62-52.

Perdue said S.B. 727 would violate the state constitution, as it treats the teacher organization different than other groups (primarily the State Employees Association of North Carolina) that are allowed to deduct member dues directly from employee paychecks. But backers of the bill believe they could override Perdue’s veto when the General Assembly comes back into session later this month.

NCAE dues for 2011 are $237 annually, giving the group the capacity to collect as much as $14.2 million in membership dues, notes Civitas Institute Senior Policy Analyst Bob Luebke. Moreover, anyone joining the NCAE also must support its affiliate group, the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers union. With annual dues of $178, the NEA could collect up to $10.6 million from North Carolina members.

In her veto statement, Perdue, who received $1.8 million in combined political contributions from the NCAE and NEA during the governor’s race in 2008 — and an additional $1.7 million from the NEA for political ads — said the bill offered a way for GOP lawmakers to punish teachers because they had the “audacity” to protest the upcoming state budget.

“This bill is simply one more attack on teachers by the Republicans in the General Assembly,” Perdue said. “The effect of Senate Bill 727 is to unfairly and arbitrarily single out one group given that State law allows a dues check off option to ever other comparable association of employees.”

NCAE President Sheri Strickland called the bill “political bullying” meant to silence teachers. She said her organization will continue to speak out against larger class sizes, classroom layoffs, and diminished funding for students.

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Avery, sponsor of S.B. 727, agreed there has been bullying, but he said it’s come from the NCAE, directed toward the teachers it is supposed to serve.

“I’ve heard a tremendous amount of complaining from teachers who have experienced a tremendous amount of bullying to join,” Hise said. “Usually they are approached before a performance review and feel as if they are made to sign up. It’s such a problem.”

Hise said teachers who don’t approve of what the NCAE is doing are unable to cancel their payment to the organization, and he said that is wrong. “Right now the schools have access to who has paid their dues and who has not,” he said. “It’s intimidating and it’s about time we put the control back into the teacher’s hands.”

The bill, and the resulting veto, didn’t surprise Luebke. He said the NCAE and the NEA have been unabashedly aggressive and strident in supporting a liberal agenda. He said the two organizations together represent “the largest political influence on American politics.”

“There has been bad blood and a preponderance of NCAE contributions to the Democratic side of the aisle,” he said. “The Republicans weren’t ignorant of the political reality.”

Supporters of S.B. 727 note that, if the check off option were ended, NCAE members could arrange individually to have dues deducted from their bank accounts, or pay dues by check or credit card.

Hise was not deterred by the governor’s veto. He hopes the House and Senate will deal with the issue swiftly when the session resumes later this month.

“There’s a lot of optimism to override the veto,” he said. “We have very positive signs from the House that it can occur.” If it doesn’t, Hise said he will continue to push an end to the dues check off at each subsequent legislative session.

“I will be ready to run this again if need be,” he said. “It’s the first step, a beginning to eliminate dues across the state government,” he said. “The government shouldn’t be involved in collecting dues for any private organization. I want to get the state out of this role.”

Luebke agrees. “The state shouldn’t provide administrative services for any organization,” he said. “There’s no reason for it and there’s no compelling reason to justify it in any case. I would rewrite this bill to apply [it] to all nonprofit groups.”

Karen Welsh is a contributor to Carolina Journal.