On Friday, Brad Presnall, a contracted consultant for the Alabama Education Association (AEA), appeared on WVNN's "The Yaffee Program" to respond to critical reporting of his organization and its stance on conservative education priorities, including school choice and homeschooling.
During the broadcast, Presnall, who also claims affiliations with U.S. Rep. Dale Strong (R-Monrovia), U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and State Auditor Andrew Sorrell, criticized recent 1819 News reports, dismissing them as "AEA derangement syndrome."
He also bragged that AEA "sponsored" the Alabama delegation to the tune of $50,000 to the National Republican Convention, and "gave $50,000 to Trump's inauguration" to bolster the organization's conservative credentials.
"So AEA's relationship with everything Alabama Republican is good enough for the Republican Party to accept their money."
Even as recently as August, AEA has flexed its muscle for Democrats, including for failed Mobile mayoral candidate State Rep. Barbara Drummond (D-Mobile).
Presnall claimed that, despite their recent $100,000 contribution to Drummond, an outspoken critic of school choice and so-called "MAGA Republicans," they were now an organization that aligns with conservative views.
RELATED: AEA sinks $100K into Barbara Drummond Mobile mayoral campaign
Drummond has a long history of opposing school choice and was a vocal critic of the CHOOSE Act last year.
"I don't see where this plan is going to effectively educate any of those children, and the fact that this bill has no accountability, it will be apples and oranges," the AEA-backed candidate reportedly told the Alabama Reflector. "The public schools will have ACAP and the private schools, home schools, they will have their set of testing, so how will we know that those children are being properly educated?"
Presnall insisted there was no AEA opposition to so-called "conservative education issues."
"AEA backs conservative education issues and doesn't want or support any [National Education Association] woke stuff at all. The proof is in all the conservative education legislation that I just spoke of a second ago, that AEA has supported."
However, in an October 2024 op-ed, AEA executive director Amy Marlowe urged her membership to lobby lawmakers to "limit the damage" of school choice.
A recent report from the Alabama Policy Institute (API) showcased the AEA's ties to the radical National Education Association (NEA).
Presnall rejected API's findings, insisting it was a business partnership and blasted API, Yellowhammer News and 1819 News for highlighting his group's association with the NEA.
"The reason AEA is somewhat affiliated with them is so the AEA can buy their members, all the teachers and education employees' insurance policies, for much less because they have the buying power of 3.5 million members nationally ... AEA fights against woke policies and has supported every single anti-woke policy that the Alabama Republican Party and the legislators have wanted."
He added, "If Alabama Policy Institute would spend as much time worrying about their own organization instead of discrediting AEA, maybe they could actually be relevant again, like they were in 1989."
The Alabama Education Association has been a long-time adversary of conservatives and Republican politicians, going back to its origins while under the leadership of the organization's former executive secretary, the late Dr. Paul Hubbert, and associate executive secretary Joe Reed, who has long been a fixture in Alabama Democratic Party politics.
On school choice, Presnall insisted that because the AEA did not "kill" school choice legislation, they should no longer be viewed as an organization with a long legacy of supporting left-wing education policies and politicians.
"[U]ltimately, AEA did not kill the bill," he declared. "And if you've seen, and again, we can talk about history, that's something AEA has been able to do for 50 years, that when they don't like something, they kill the bill. Well, they stood aside for this."
Despite boasting of a "positive conversation" with the AEA last week, Alabama Republican Party chairman John Wahl offered a different tone in the wake of Presnall's remarks.
"After comments today from an AEA spokesperson insinuating the Party's endorsement of the AEA while also attacking a conservative journalist and the Alabama Policy Institute, the Republican Party is setting the record straight. Let me be clear — conservatives across Alabama are united in our support for parental rights and educational freedom. It has been the AEA that has consistently opposed conservative education reforms, including opposition to a fully funded school choice program," Wahl said in a statement.
"The Alabama Republican Party is unapologetic about our commitment to defend Alabama families. Parents — not government bureaucrats or special interest groups — belong in the driver's seat of their children's education," he added. "If you are opposed to those values, you are opposed to our Party. Period."
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