It’s not surprising the NC Association of Educators (which acts as a teacher’s union) would like to collect as much money as it can in dues. As a businessman, I understand that.

But based on the emails I’ve been receiving from teachers about pay raises, and an article just published in the Hickory Daily Record, the union also has a fundamental conflict of interest: It represents both teachers and school administrators.

Whoever heard of a union that was clever enough to represent both management and labor – at the same time?

Consider the article in the Hickory Daily Record. It reports teachers in Catawba County earn an average of $43,000 (not including benefits like healthcare and pension). The Record also listed the top administrators’ salaries – and all were earning over $100,000.

How is that a conflict?

The NCAE naturally wants teachers to be paid more – and one productive way to do that is to reduce administrative costs. But, of course, the NCAE can’t support that kind of reform because some of its members are administrators. The NCAE is caught straddling the fence. That’s the conflict of interest.

The NCAE’s solution? It passes the buck – it says, Let’s not cut anyone. Let’s give everyone a raise. Of course, that works out fine for the NCAE. But what about taxpayers?