The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) issued a press release this morning to respond to the annual “Rankings and Estimates” report published by their parent union, the National Education Association (NEA).

In the press release, the NCAE never mentions that North Carolina improved five spots on the NEA’s annual rankings of teacher salaries – from 47th in 2013-14 (revised) to 42nd in 2014-15 (estimated).  The state’s improvement was a direct result of sizable pay increases spearheaded by Republican legislators and Governor McCrory.

Ironically, the NCAE’s March 2015 newsletter includes a column by Executive Director Rachelle Johnson that wonders aloud about Republicans’ unwillingness to work with their group.  She writes,

With all of these challenges, you would  think collaboration would be a good thing, but rather than embrace the organizations that represent education professionals and public employees and work with us to make North Carolina better, some legislators proposed legislation that targets the organizations that can and want to help.

Could it be that Republican leaders will not be interested in “collaboration” and “help” when those organizations issue press releases full of complaints and downplay evidence of progress?