MONGTOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama Education Association, the state’s teachers union and biggest Democratic political force, can no longer automatically deduct dues from school employee paychecks.

The change comes after the AEA failed to prove to school districts that it doesn’t use its members’ dues for political activity, the Associated Press reports.

“AEA had a court-approved deadline of Monday to comply with a newly enforced state law on limiting payroll deductions,” according to the news service. “To do that, AEA had to certify to school systems that it wasn’t using dues collected through payroll deduction for political activity.”

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Union officials told the AP the AEA opted instead to move to bank drafts to collect dues from its 95,000 members. AEA spokeswoman Amy Marlowe muttered something about the state law silencing the AEA.

The fact is, in many states teachers union dues are automatically deducted from employee paychecks unless they specifically opt out of union membership during a very short time window each year. Union finances, of course, are kept confidential, but what’s clear is teachers unions spend heavily on left-wing political candidates and causes like abortion, LGBT issues, increasing taxes, increasing government spending, global warming, and all sorts of issues that have nothing to do with educating the country’s youth.

State Sen. Del Marsh, sponsor of the Alabama payroll legislation, is among a growing chorus of lawmakers, parents, taxpayers and public employees who recognize that the union fundraising advantage comes at the expense of taxpayers and unwitting union members.

It seems like common sense that government should refrain from using public resources to collect contributions for a private political organization, and that no American citizen should be compelled to support political causes they don’t believe in. But that’s exactly what’s happening in many states.

Thankfully, Alabama lawmakers, like their counterparts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and other states, have taken action in recent years to end the unfair union political advantage, and now require unions to collect their own dues.

The change not only helps to fix the incestuous relationship between unions and public employers, it holds union officials more accountable to their members – who will undoubtedly think harder about what they’re getting with their union affiliation when they’re forced cut a check for hundreds in annual dues.