Do you think it is fair for the state and local school districts to act as debt collectors for unions? That is what is happening in Louisiana right now. By law, Louisiana and local school districts are required to collect dues for the teachers unions.

The unions use those dues to fund political campaigns and lawsuits to oppose education programs for children. The latter means the state collects dues to pay for union lawyers who sue the state, which requires taxpayers to spend more money in courts rather than in classrooms.

The outrage doesn’t end there. Portions of those dues also are funneled to groups like the National Education Association in Washington, D.C., the parent union of the LAE. That’s right. Louisiana teachers’ hard-earned-money is funneled to organizations in Washington, D.C., to run political operations around the country.

Please, don’t mistakenly think unions support or share in the goal of giving all students a voice and opportunity. The unions exist to represent union members, not the interests of children.

Albert Shanker, former president of the United Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, said it best: “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of children.”

So why don’t the unions collect their own dues? Why don’t teachers who choose to pay dues simply set up automatic payments out of their bank or credit union accounts?

The answer is unions don’t want this. And the reason is this simple. They know that if teachers weigh what they are paying in dues versus what services the unions are providing them and what political positions the unions are taking, more teachers will elect to keep their own money.

The Louisiana Legislature can end this outrageous situation by passing HB 418 and SB 204, the Paycheck Protection bills. This would end the forced collection of union dues by school districts.

Even if you support unions, you can’t justify the state acting as their collection agency. The bills that have been filed do not prevent teachers from joining the union if they wish. Nor do they prevent unions from collecting dues. They simply take the state and local school districts out of a private matter between union members and their unions.

Patricia Levesque is the Executive Director of Excellence in Education National.