Dive Brief:
- The Alabama Education Association's political action committee has taken out a loan of $1.2 million for campaign donations.
- Typically, the AEA receives most of its funding from teacher donations, however, the Alabama Department of Education banned the union earlier this year from receiving donations directly from educators' checks — in many ways impeding this cash flow.
- According to The Montgomery Advertiser, the AEA spent $9.4 million supporting candidates in 2010, and $2.5 million of that was loaned.
Dive Insight:
Ultimately, this story points out the very obvious: education is political. While we can pretend it is just about the students, at the end of the day, it goes way beyond the brick-and-mortar building. Millions of dollars going toward an end goal of education never actually make it to the classroom, going instead to politicians who one day, if elected, will help support certain causes. Seems a bit crazy, eh?