API researched the latest data on direct Alabama Education Association (AEA) contributions and recipients. AEA was the single largest contributor to Republicans in the last election cycle, despite the decades-old standing rule admonishing elected officials who run as Republicans to refrain from taking campaign money from the AEA.

In 2022-2023, AEA gave members of the Alabama House of Representatives at least $875,000 in direct contributions. In 2022, AEA gave members of the Alabama Senate an estimated $682,500 in direct contributions. Over the political life of the current members of the Alabama House of Representatives, AEA has given to 85 of the 105 members to the tune of $2,449,000. In addition, seven State Senators have refused direct contributions from AEA; the total amount contributed to current Alabama Senators since they have run for or been elected to the state senate is $1,510,000.

Several current statewide elected officials have also accepted AEA contributions, totaling $55,000 in 2022 and $195,000 since first running for office.

AEA is the Alabama state affiliate of the National Education Association (https://www.nea.org/nea-affiliates). The NEA advocates for school lockdowns (https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/covid), critical race theory (https://web.archive.org/web/20210705090534/https://ra.nea.org/business-item/2021-nbi-039), forced vaccinations and masking (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-responsible-school-lockdowns-faced-zero-repercussions), and radical gender ideology (https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/just-equitable-schools/core-values/promoting-gender-equity) on children of all ages in public schools around the country, and promotes gender confusion (https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/racial-social-justice/tools-justice/lgbtq-support-protection#:~:text=and%20Empowering%20Schools-,Creating%20Welcoming%20and%20Empowering%20Schools,intolerance%20in%20our%20public%20schools..)

The NEA endorsed Kamala Harris for US President and continually denigrates school choice options.

The AEA has never publicly denounced any of those initiatives, takes millions of dollars annually from NEA coffers, and encourages their members to take advantage of NEA trainings and programming. 

AEA proudly attacks every single tax cut that impacts the Education Trust Fund – their lobbyists testified against cutting the grocery tax and the elimination of the overtime tax. They were vocal advocates for the passage of the legalization and expansion of gambling in 2024. AEA tried to stop universal school choice bills in 2023 and 2024. AEA declared school choice a “danger to Alabama schools” and “a zombie from a horror movie”, AEA claimed to have single-handedly killed the universal school choice bill in 2023 and tried to kill the CHOOSE Act in 2024. 

Though AEA attempts to use the fact that many of the teachers that are members of their labor union vote Republican, in a Republican supermajority state that is statistically unsurprising. Further, AEA’s declaration that they represent Republican values rings hollow when there is a modicum of analysis regarding the legislation that they attempt to pass or kill. AEA may technically represent and/or support “Republicans”, but they certainly don’t support any of the tenents of conservatism or the mission of the Alabama Policy Institute: free markets, limited government & strong families.