Press Conference Statement of NCAE President Sheri Strickland

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "At 1:12 a.m. this morning, the General Assembly voted to eliminate NCAE's ability to collect dues though payroll deduction," said NCAE President Sheri Strickland at a press conference held today at the NCAE Center. "The Association believes the passage of this legislation – an override of Governor Perdue's veto -- to be a retaliatory action against NCAE for standing up for public school students and educators.

"The message from the legislature is clear – if you stand against cuts to public education, we will teach you a lesson.

"If you point out that they have taken North Carolina to nearly dead last in per pupil funding, you will be bullied.

"If you say that we are short-changing our students, we will try and silence your voice.

"Our message back to them is we will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced, and we will not back down. NCAE will stand up to the clear attempt to silence the many thousands of educators across the state.

"No other organization has been affected by this legislation. As most of you already know, NCAE has been singled out – targeted. They tried to the hide the facts, but the truth came to light. Here's the audio recording of legislative leaders plotting and planning to try and hurt NCAE -- which members of the media captured during the last session."

NCAE President Sheri Strickland played an audio recording of Speaker Thom Tills talking about plans eliminate payroll dues deduction for NCAE through upcoming legislation.

"We didn't back down then and we won't back down now," Strickland said.

"What legislative leaders did early this morning is the end result of a concerted effort to silence thousands of educators across the state, because we stood strong for schools. And we believe the legislature has acted unconstitutionally.

"The Association's next steps are to pursue legal action within the next few days and to simply move our members to alternative ways to pay their dues.

"We will continue to speak forthrightly in support of public schools; we will continue to act as a professional organization that advocates to reduce class size and help build a quality education workforce --- and we will continue to stand up against efforts to bully us into submission. Our children are too important to give up the fight.

"On May 3, we brought thousands of concerned citizens, parents, students, and educators together to speak in one voice against cuts to education. This move today to silence NCAE is also a move to silence those thousands of voices of North Carolinians who spoke up in that rally. Anyone who cares about public education in North Carolina should feel incensed at today's action in the Legislature. "

NCAE is the state's largest education association representing active, retired and student members.

SOURCE North Carolina Association of Educators