During a Tuesday interview on Huntsville WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity) reacted to the report that Alabama teacher union payroll deductions are helping fund more than $660 million in contributions from national unions to far-left organizations and left-wing political groups, calling it "utterly ridiculous."
SEE: Alabama Dems benefiting from NEA, AEA dues alongside radical pro-abortion, LGBTQ+, DEI groups
According to Yarbrough, those left-wing causes getting funded by payroll deductions not only violate Alabama values and beliefs, but also state laws. He argued that the funds are to be used for educational purposes rather than for political purposes.
"I feel like it's a classic example of bait and switch," the lawmaker told guest host Apryl Marie Fogel. "You know, obviously in Alabama, it's obviously really not good. It's a bad thing. It violates state laws. It violates our values, our beliefs. You know, here in Alabama, we've been getting, I think, more true over time to our conservative past and anti-DEI laws."
"We're trying to get our education system back to the concept of reading, writing, and arithmetic, not being ashamed of our Western Christian tradition, and our values, and our schools. And, you know, when you focus on the excellence side, not just the faith and the values and how those are the foundation for why we should pursue excellence, then you start trying to focus on functional excellence in the classroom. Part of that actually is bringing in, while we do advocate, I advocate as a conservative for lower taxes and less government and so forth. At the same time, there are needed resources in order to do something well, whether it's, you know, obviously students need pencils, paper, they need learning tools, aids, helps. Well, teachers need those things, too. So there is a certain amount of resources that is intended to be set aside for the functional support of and help of our teachers, where it's actually needed."
"And when you have this situation now going on, where these teachers, these membership dues and unions that by our state law are not to be used for political purposes, by implication, therefore, what should they be used for? Shocker, education purposes, teacher help, classroom help, those kinds of things. And now here they are being siphoned off. And once again, proven that it's being not towards reading, writing, and arithmetic and functional excellence and our morals and values; it's climate change, it's gender activism, it's abortion. It's all these things that we, as Alabama, understand are not only wrong and destructive, they have no place in our classroom, and they should not be supported by our teachers' membership. It's utterly ridiculous."
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