罢丑别谤别鈥檚 another legislative effort tied to teacher pay that鈥檚 advancing through statehouses this spring鈥攅liminating payroll deduction services.
In many places, teachers who want to be a union member can sign up to have their dues automatically deducted from their paychecks. The service is a convenience for both teachers and their unions, but Republican lawmakers in at least five states are trying to get rid of or limit that option.
The legislators say that it鈥檚 not necessary for public school districts to be involved in financial transactions on behalf of unions. But teachers鈥� unions say that adapting to these measures will require a lot of time and money and could hurt their membership numbers. They also point out that many of these bills exclude conservative-leaning unions, like those for police, and target teachers鈥� unions, which typically support Democratic politicians.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a roadblock they鈥檙e trying to throw up,鈥� said Eddie Campbell, the president of the Kentucky Education Association. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an unsubtle attempt to try to silence the political opposition that we have as an association.鈥�
The legislation is part of an ongoing conservative effort to weaken teachers鈥� union influence in schools. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that teachers do not have to pay 鈥渁gency鈥� or 鈥渇air share鈥� fees if they鈥檙e not union members鈥攅liminating a major source of revenue for teachers鈥� unions and making it easier for teachers to leave the union.
Since then, legislation and litigation have further targeted teachers鈥� unions, including seeking to reduce the length of time educators have to decide whether or not they want to stay in the union.
In one state, this measure has already become law
A bill that would prohibit school districts from deducting dues for unions or other professional organizations from school employee鈥檚 paychecks and is headed to Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders鈥� desk. Similar bills have passed one chamber of the legislature in and . (In Tennessee, the measure is attached to a proposed teacher pay raise that would ensure every teacher in the state makes at least $50,000 by the 2026-27 school year.)
Oklahoma lawmakers are also that would make it so payroll deductions cannot be authorized for longer than one year at a time.
And in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, vetoed a bill to prohibit school districts from deducting union dues from teachers鈥� paychecks鈥攂ut lawmakers overrode the veto in late March. The law took effect immediately, meaning teachers who were signed up for payroll deduction services must enroll in a new payment system right away to stay current on their union dues.
has exceptions for police and firefighter unions, but it also prohibits school employees from having their dues from non-union professional groups, like the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, deducted from their paychecks.
The measure 鈥渋s an attack on unions and teacher associations that support and protect hard-working Kentucky families,鈥� Beshear . 鈥淭hese are people who educate our kids, drive our buses, pave our roads, and work in our libraries. Senate Bill 7 also has First Amendment implications, stifling public employees鈥� freedom of speech.鈥�
Proponents of the bills disagree. Finding another method to collect dues 鈥渋s a very minor inconvenience,鈥� said Rusty Brown, the Southern director for Freedom Foundation, a conservative, free-market think tank. 鈥淭o say that鈥檚 shifting rights away鈥攖hat鈥檚, at best, a stretch.鈥�
He argued that it鈥檚 no longer necessary for public school districts to serve as a financial intermediator between teachers and their unions, since automatic bill payments are increasingly common and easy to set up.
Legislators in support of the bills have also said that having to let school district officials know whether you鈥檙e a union member could lead to harassment or discrimination.
鈥淭his bill is about removing any potential fear or intimidation in the workplace,鈥� said Arkansas state Sen. Joshua Bryant, a Republican and the author of a related bill, during a floor debate, . 鈥淭he technology is there to be able to pay our dues direct. Why do we have to go through and fill out a form, check a box, and annually let people know what we鈥檙e doing? Why can鈥檛 we just take this like we do everything else and take it to our home?鈥�
But Carol Fleming, the president of the Arkansas Education Association, rebutted the idea that payroll deduction services have led to workplace intimidation: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 condone behavior like that,鈥� she said.
She argued that lawmakers are specifically targeting educators, since the Arkansas bill does not include any other public-sector employees.
鈥淲e were hailed as heroes during the pandemic. We have worked tirelessly every day to ensure that every student succeeds and thrives, and this is the result,鈥� Fleming said. 鈥淓ducators, day in and day out, have shown up and faced those challenges to meet the needs of our students, but it鈥檚 getting harder due to low morale because of perceived attacks on our profession.
鈥淭his legislation removes an educator鈥檚 choice, an educator鈥檚 freedom in how they pay for membership in a professional organization, and that is why they believe it is another attack on the profession,鈥� she said.
The broader political climate is contributing to the momentum of this type of legislation, Brown said, citing conservative concerns that teachers鈥� unions were responsible for prolonged COVID-19 school closures and are pushing 鈥渃ritical race theory鈥� in schools.
鈥淵ou go through years of that, and certainly states that lean more red, they鈥檝e got to look and think, 鈥楴ot only are we collecting money for these people, and we don鈥檛 need to be, look at what it鈥檚 going toward,鈥欌�� Brown said.
A large administrative burden for unions
It鈥檚 not the first time ending payroll deduction has gained traction as a strategy to curb teachers鈥� union influence.
Many lawmakers proposed ending payroll deductions after the 2010 wave of Republican statehouse victories, said Bradley Marianno, an assistant professor of educational policy and leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
In Michigan, a law prohibiting school districts from deducting union dues from employee paychecks went into effect in 2012鈥攖he same year the state enacted a right-to-work statute that allowed workers to choose not to pay union dues or join unions. (This year, Michigan repealed that right-to-work law. The change doesn鈥檛 affect teachers鈥� unions, though, because of the 2018 Supreme Court ruling.)
Teachers鈥� union officials in the state at the time said the payroll deduction law had a greater impact than the right-to-work law. After all, the change 鈥渕akes it more challenging for unions to maintain members on their rolls,鈥� Marianno said.
Union officials had to get all their members to sign up for a new form of dues payments, and then manage the administrative burden that came with those payments. For example, if an educator鈥檚 credit card expired, the union would then have to make sure that the educator added a new form of payment.
Most Arkansas Education Association members currently choose to pay their dues via payroll deductions instead of other available options, Fleming said. Switching all members to another system would take time and likely increase the amount of money the association pays in credit card processing fees, she said.
And there鈥檚 a risk that some members could be lost in the process. Fleming is especially worried about retired educators and classified employees, like bus drivers and janitors.
鈥淢any of our classified employees do not have credit cards or bank accounts,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e living check to check. This is going to make it even more difficult for them to maintain their membership鈥攁 membership that they have come to rely on for support, for networking, for professional development, and for training.鈥�
In Kentucky, legislators have introduced this type of legislation for several years. The state teachers鈥� association responded by setting up a system to allow members to pay their dues via credit card or electronic funds transfer, said Campbell, the KEA president.
Still, he said, it鈥檚 going to be a 鈥渂ig lift鈥� for union leaders and staff to contact and have one-on-one conversations with members to get them to switch payment methods. Those conversations will require a lot of time and effort, Campbell said, but they鈥檙e also at the heart of union organizing.
鈥淯ltimately, I think this is going to make us stronger,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are having conversations one-on-one with our members, we鈥檙e 鈥� picking up new members.鈥�
Even so, Campbell said KEA is working with its national counterpart, the National Education Association, to pursue possible litigation challenging the constitutionality of the new law.
Last month in Indiana, a federal judge blocked a pair of laws that required teachers to go through an annual three-step process to have union dues deducted from their paycheck. The lawsuit, which was filed by a group of educators and their unions, called it an 鈥渆ntirely unnecessary and onerous鈥� process and argued that it 鈥渕ade it more difficult for the unions to maintain their representational vitality because it requires them to expend more time and resources to collect the dues.鈥�
U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Barker teachers鈥� First Amendment rights to freedom of association, although she rejected the plaintiffs鈥� claim that the laws violated their free speech rights.
Barker also wrote that since the laws were specific to teachers鈥� unions, they were discriminatory on the basis of viewpoint.
