Heavily supported by Democrats at the gubernatorial and General Assembly level, the North Carolina Association of Educators has membership of 25,679 at close of 2023, according to a state audit.

It is second-largest of employees’ associations behind the 40,181 in the State Employees Association of North Carolina and an estimated 63% smaller than a decade ago. The office of Democrat Jessica Holmes, the appointed state auditor filling the remainder of the term for Beth Wood, released the audit on Tuesday.

Speculation has long been the norm for actual membership in the NCAE. The auditor is granted authority to perform the analysis, but associations are not compelled to give information.

North Carolina does not have a teachers union, defined as collective bargaining. The NCAE is a state affiliate of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union; rallies periodically at the Legislative Building on Jones Street as issues arise; and generally, is supported more by Democratic lawmakers than the Republicans who have three-fifths majorities in the chambers.

Education claims more than half of the state’s budget this fiscal year, as it did last year.

Previous audits of this type did not have a total for the organization in 2015, twice in 2017, 2018, and twice in 2021.

The 2022 report said the NCAE had 26,204 members. The previous audits noted membership could not be verified because of restrictions. The 2015 report said the “NCAE reported a total membership count of approximately 70,000 on their website as of Oct. 27, 2015. We were not able to confirm this membership count.”

According to facts and figures from the state Department of Public Instruction, enrollment in public schools – traditional public and charter – is more than 1.5 million, similar to 2015. The DPI budget for 2023-24 lists 101,775 teachers, more than 92,000 in local education agencies and more than 9,300 in independent public schools.

That makes the NCAE membership about one-fourth that total.

In the audit, third in membership count of employees’ associations was the Southern States Police Benevolent Association (16,803). A significant step back are Teamsters Local 391 (8,399); North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, or UE Local 150 (6,319); Correctional Peace Officers Foundation (2,649); and the Professional Educators of North Carolina (2,082).

The audit is performed as required by a 2014 General Assembly session law “to meet the intended purpose of assisting users in determining whether domiciled employees’ associations meet the minimum membership requirements to participate in payroll deduction during the year.”