Denise Specht, President of Education Minnesota makes over $206,000 a year. Specht's gross salary increased $5,794 in 2016. Almost 70 executives and other staff at Education Minnesota make over $100,000 in salary. State dues have gone up by $7; dues range from $650 to $1,400. There were 6,534 reported agency fee payers in 2017.

We do think if enough teachers exercise their right to resign from the union, that the union is more likely to do a better job representing all teachers; and that would be a good thing. What is “enough?” We do not know. But if very few teachers resign, Education Minnesota is unlikely to shift its focus away from politics and on to the every-day issues faced by teachers in the classroom and as professionals.

Mary Shapiro, a 35-year Minnesota veteran teacher, remembers a time when belonging to a union meant being part of a “local only” association concerned almost entirely with improving working and learning conditions in her school.

“When I first started teaching, union representation wasn’t political at all. The union’s role was…