The Freedom Foundation has announced that teachers in Powers School District No. 31 have voted unanimously to replace the Powers Education Association (PEA) with an independent local union, the Cruiser Educators Association.
According to the Freedom Foundation, faculty members expressed dissatisfaction with the PEA’s use of dues for political activities and its defense of a teacher under investigation for sexual abuse. The new union will be operated locally by the teachers themselves rather than through state or national structures.
The Freedom Foundation further reported that a decertification campaign against the PEA began in late 2023, guiding teachers through the petitioning process with the Oregon State Employee Relations Board (ERB). When neither the Oregon Education Association (OEA) nor the PEA addressed the petitioners’ concerns, the PEA withdrew from representing the teachers, leaving the Cruiser Educators Association as their only option. In an ERB-supervised election, every participating Powers teacher voted in favor of forming this new independent union.
According to Opt Out Today, full-time teachers are charged approximately $1,000 annually by the OEA, with $195 forwarded to the National Education Association (NEA). In 2024, it was reported that OEA collected $25 million in dues but spent nearly $29 million, resulting in a budget deficit of about $4 million. Expenditures included over $868,753 on political activity and over $20.7 million on staff salaries and benefits.
Powers School District No. 31 is a small rural public district serving grades PK–12 with two schools—one elementary and one high school. As of the 2023-24 school year, it employed approximately 13.74 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers and enrolled about 126 students, yielding a student-teacher ratio of around 9.17-to-1. The high school student body is small and close-knit; during 2022–23 there were about 66 students with a teaching staff of approximately 6.28 FTEs, giving a ratio of about 10.5 students per teacher.
