Joe McAdory: Maybe Byrne and the AEA can meet in middle

The war is on between Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne and state Democratic executive secretary Paul Hubbert.

Tuesday, Byrne called upon fellow GOP candidates not to accept campaign money from the union, a lobbyist group that represents teachers statewide, and referred to the union as the “single greatest impediment to quality education in this state.”

Them’s fightin’ words. “I stand foursquare with teachers of the state of Alabama ... But I don’t think that AEA stands for the best of their profession. AEA stands for the worst of it,” Byrne said outside the Alabama Capitol.

Obviously, Hubbert took exception.

“If working for classroom teachers is an impediment to education, I don’t know what it would take for him to believe AEA is a positive force,” Hubbert said.

“He is telling people he is upset with us. AEA does what its membership asks us to. If we are successful, I guess we make some folks upset with us.”

Byrne believes the union stands in the way of reforms and controlled the state’s education budget for years.

Well I would hope the union has a hand on the state’s education budget considering it represents the men and women who teach our children. However, when I view the AEA, I don’t think of teachers, and that’s sad. I think of politics. To me, the AEA has become less of a teachers’ organization and more of a player in Montgomery. When I see the Alabama School Journal, front-page stories have little to do with improving teachers’ techniques or offering other ideas for the classroom. Instead, I see stories from the Legislature.

Alabama needs its teachers union as it is so vital to protecting and enhancing the careers of our educators who work hard to nurture our children with the best quality learning atmosphere possible. However, I’d like to see the union turn its focus more on the classroom and less on the Legislature. When that happens, men and women campaigning for the GOP gubernatorial nomination would take the union seriously as a positive factor in the state rather than a negative one. Democratic candidates are already on the AEA side.

Why? Hubbert’s ties to the party make that pretty clear.

It’s time the state’s teachers union was non-partisan. It’s time for cooperation and consideration in Montgomery. It’s time politicians and teachers unions stop bickering. It’s time to focus on education.

So who’s right?

Both, to some degree and neither to some degree. Maybe they can meet in the middle and take steps forward rather than slugging one another in the press and in the Legislature when it convenes next winter.

Joe McAdory is editorial page editor for the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be reached at 737-2549 or