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Education PAC Takes Out Over $1 Million in Loans

A lawsuit has been filed to block state education officials from allowing payroll deductions from public school employees to fund the Alabama Education Association.
Alabama Education Association
A lawsuit has been filed to block state education officials from allowing payroll deductions from public school employees to fund the Alabama Education Association.

The Alabama Education Association's political action committee is using more than $1 million in loans to help support candidates after spending on primary races earlier this year.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports a campaign finance report filed last week shows AEA's political action committee took out a loan of more than $1.2 million in addition to borrowing $500,000 in July.

Earlier this year, the Alabama Department of Education directed school districts to enforce a law blocking AEA from receiving contributions directly from educators' paychecks. The contributions were a major source of the group's funding.

AEA spokeswoman Amy Marlowe says the group taking out loans is a standard practice during election cycles. The newspaper reports that AEA took out $2.5 million in loans when it spent $9.4 million on 2010 elections.

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