Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director
(360) 956-3482

WEA refunds thousands to teachers

Thousands of Washington public school teachers and classified staff received refunds this week from the Washington Education Association (WEA) as a result of a Thurston County Superior Court order last year.

The WEA was ordered to refund a portion of the agency fees paid by non-members* each year after a lawsuit determined the union had illegally spent the money to influence elections without permission from teachers.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2000 by Attorney General Christine Gregoire, has now cost the union nearly $1 million. The penalties included a $400,000 fine for what the judge called intentional violations of the law, refunds to 4,000 teachers, and $190,000 in legal fees paid to the Attorney General's office.

The case was sparked by a complaint from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based policy research organization and long-time advocate for teachers' paycheck protection rights.

The WEA has not publicly released information about the number of teachers receiving a refund this year, nor the amount of each refund. A similar refund last year sent to 4,000 teachers statewide totaled about $200,000.

The WEA's parent organization, the National Education Association, is currently being sued by Attorney General Gregoire for violations of the same law.

*Agency fee payers are teachers who are not members of the union but are still required to pay fees equal to 100 percent of the union's mandatory dues. Washington state law expressly prohibits the union from spending any agency fees for political purposes without individual authorization from teachers.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org