Thursday, April 19, 2018

Does OEA have nearly 40,000 members?


"With nearly 40,000 members, the Oklahoma Education Association represents many, but not all of the state's teachers," The Oklahoman reported last week.

It's true that the OEA claims to have "nearly 40,000 members." But according to the NEA's own financial report, OEA's total membership—active members plus "other" members (staff, students, retired teachers, et al.)—was 19,843 at the end of the 2015-16 school year.

I sent the NEA financial report to The Oklahoman's reporter. Here's hoping The Oklahoman will append a correction to the online version of the story.

UPDATE (April 22, 2018): Still no correction, but The Oklahoman did report today that "[t]he Oklahoma Education Association, which is a member of the National Education Association, had around 19,800 members in 2016, according to a NEA report."

UPDATE (June 26, 2018): The NEA's new financial report is out and the OEA's numbers have dropped again: OEA's total membership was 19,112 at the end of the 2016-17 school year.

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