Judges block Tennessee law banning teacher group from deducting member dues from paychecks
FILE - Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his State of the State address in the House Chamber of the Capitol building, Jan. 31, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. A professional organization that advocates for Tennessee teachers has filed a lawsuit challenging a new state law that bans the group from deducting membership dues from educators’ paychecks. The Tennessee Education Association filed the challenge Monday, June 12, 2023 over the two-pronged law, which also gradually raises the minimum teacher salary up to $50,000 for the 2026-2027 school year. The association supports the pay raise, but opposes the deductions ban. Gov. Lee pushed for the dual-purpose bill with the support from the GOP-dominant General Assembly this year. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski, file)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A panel of judges on Thursday temporarily blocked a Tennessee law that bans a professional organization that advocates for teachers in the state from deducting membership dues from those educators’ paychecks.
The three state trial court judges wrote that in granting the temporary restraining order requested by the Tennessee Education Association they were making ”no determination as to the merits” of the plaintiffs’ claims, and they scheduled a July 13 hearing in the case.
The law was slated to kick in on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment on the ruling in the ongoing lawsuit Thursday. The Tennessee Education Association declined to comment ahead of the hearing.
The association sued earlier this month over the two-pronged law, which also gradually raises the minimum teacher salary up to $50,000 for the 2026-27 school year. Republican Gov. Bill Lee pushed for the dual-purpose bill with the support from the GOP-dominant General Assembly this year.
The group’s lawsuit contends that combining the two changes into one bill violates a single-subject requirement for legislation under the Tennessee Constitution. The challenge calls for a judge to leave the pay raise in place, but block the deductions ban. The association says the ban will cost the group money and diminish its own revenues, which come entirely from member dues.
Amanda Chaney, spokesperson for the Tennessee Education Association, said the ruling “in no way blocks the pay raise” because the lawsuit only challenges the dues deduction ban.
The new annual state budget, which kicks in Saturday, also includes $125 million for teacher pay raises.
Additionally, the lawsuit says the bill’s caption — which is a short summary — is “constitutionally defective” because it did not mention the payroll deductions change.
The complaint also argues that the ban violates the state and federal constitutional protections for contracts. That includes certain agreements between the Tennessee Education Association’s local affiliates and school districts that include provisions about deductions, and separate agreements between the association and teachers.
Three local affiliates and two member teachers joined the Tennessee Education Association as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Tennessee efforts to pass a paycheck deduction ban have failed as standalone bills in recent years. And though Lee and the Tennessee Education Association have at times butted heads, including over his school voucher program, the organization is influential among Democratic and Republican lawmakers and has a well-funded political action committee. This year’s proposal left some lawmakers feeling conflicted about how to vote.
Lee has argued that the law removes the collection of dues for teachers unions from the school districts’ payroll staff, and guarantees “taxpayer dollars are used to educate students, and not fund politics.”
Proponents of keeping the deduction system intact said it provides local control since payroll dues deductions are optional for school districts. Teachers also don’t have to join the Tennessee Education Association, or any professional organization. Advocates also noted that certain state employee groups use paycheck deductions.
Teachers who choose to join a local affiliate of the Tennessee Education Association agree to be a member of and pay dues to the state association and the National Education Association, a group that conservative opponents of the paycheck dues deduction have criticized as too progressive.
The association has rebutted claims about costs, saying the payroll deduction is automated, with “no appreciable burdens or costs” for school districts.
The Tennessee Education Association has also said it’s not a union — it’s a professional organization that advocates on a wide range of issues for educators. The state has already stripped key rights associated with unions for public school teachers.
In 2011, the state passed a law that eliminated teachers’ collective bargaining rights, replacing them with a concept called collaborative conferencing — which swapped union contracts with binding memorandums of understanding on issues such as salaries, grievances, benefits and working conditions. Additionally, Tennessee teachers lost the ability to go on strike in 1978.