Union Unrest: Major Teacher Unions Display Startling Left Leaning, Neglecting Education Priorities

Over the course of two years, stretching from mid-2022 to mid-2024, the two largest teacher unions in the United States are reported to have contributed an astoundingly large sum of over $43.5 million to predominantly liberal advocacy organizations. This financial aid, believed to have been transferred by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), was revealed in an audit conducted by a robust conservative education watchdog group. The liberal causes the donated funds are speculated to support includes increased gun control, artificial racial ‘equity,’ gender transitions for minors, and unrestricted abortion access.

The total contributions reported were $43,524,123. A large proportion of this went to Democratic political action committees (PACs), particularly during the 2024 electoral cycle according to the same conservative audit report based on the disclosures made by the unions to the Department of Labor. Sarah Parshall Perry, the vice president and legal fellow at the watchdog group, proclaimed in a statement that the audit helped highlight the misplaced priorities of the NEA and the AFT, particularly their disregard for the educational needs of American children.

Impressively outspoken, Perry added further fuel to the fire by speaking her mind about the role of teachers’ unions. Her views? Unflattering to say the least. According to Perry, these unions do not serve the purpose of enlightening children, but instead serve only their own self-serving fiscal goals while condemning parental involvement in their children’s education. Their primary objective seems to be to promote leftist ideologies that have no direct association with enhancing the educational outcomes in American schools.

The audit specifically pointed out significant donations to some specific entities. Around $9.3 million was contributed to the left-leaning For Our Future Action Fund PAC by both AFT and NEA – an organization that was predominantly operational in the critical 2024 battleground states. In addition to this, the AFT donated $1.6 million to the House Majority PAC, $1.25 million to the Senate Majority PAC, and $250,000 to Future Forward, a leading super PAC that shamefully backed Kamala Harris’ campaign the previous year.

Both AFT and NEA have a notorious history of influencing political stances, especially those of the Biden administration. In 2021, they successfully persuaded health officials in the Biden administration to postpone reopening schools for in-person learning. This is a clear example of the unions’ tendency to place their interests and priorities over those of the students and their parents.

Randi Weingarten, the president of AFT and a significant supporter of the former President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, faced serious criticism during the initial years of Biden’s administration for pressuring public health officials with the aim to keep schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This sort of blatant disregard for students’ education, instead favoring a political move of this nature turned several heads and raised significant concern.

In a slightly similar vein, both AFT and NEA once again in 2021 exerted pressure on the Biden administration and the health officials therein to delay the re-opening of schools for in-person classes. These controversial actions came to light through the uncovering of emails and records obtained by watchdog groups and multiple congressional investigations in the subsequent year, 2023.

In addition, Weingarten was caught misrepresenting scientific studies verifying the safety of returning children to in-person classes during the pandemic. It was only in early 2022, following such misrepresentation, when the Biden administration announced that nearly all US public schools were again welcoming students for full-time in-person learning, despite the assurances even earlier that it was safe to do so.

Adding to the already controversial image, AFT gave away $500,000 to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, an infamous nonprofit managed by the dark money network Arabella Advisors. This funding action was strangely comparable to the actions of right-leaning organizations within the realm of Koch network. Former President Trump called for legal action against liberal billionaire George Soros and his son Alex for their affiliation with such dark money organizations that contributed an astounding $20 million toward groups opposing the DC crime crackdown.

Additionally, AFT was also guilty of directing $250,000 to the foremost super PAC backing the previous Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. Interestingly, the NEA also contributed a substantial $100,000 to the Trevor Project, a transgender youth organization which has been accused by some distressed mothers of encouraging pre-teen children to consider gender transitions. Certainly not the type of activities that these unions ought to spend their funding on.

Erika Sanzi, Defending Education’s director of outreach, did not mince her words when describing the state of teachers’ unions. According to her, they have morphed into highly political entities, with a staggering 99% of their donations going to Democratic causes. What her organization’s report revealed was the excessive sums these unions have been providing to far-left organizations that oppose educational excellence and infuse harmful ideologies into everything they touch.

Aaron Withe, CEO of the Freedom Foundation, revealed that almost 40% of the NEA’s budget is allocated for political advocacy, as reported by Fox News. This propensity for political involvement displayed by the teachers’ unions attracted Withe’s disapproval, who expressed his surprise that these groups weren’t focusing more on providing value to their members, rather than appeasing the radical segment among them.

These unions have been seen to advocate for far-fetched ideologies including men’s inclusion in women’s sports, gender transitioning of minors, antisemitism, and numerous other radical stances. An example of this is the $2.6 million dollar contribution made by AFT to Democratic candidates in 2020 according to OpenSecrets, a political donation tracking website. The NEA was not far behind contributing over $2.4 million to Dems in the same period.

All evidence points to the fact that these teacher unions, despite their initial mandate to prioritize the improvement of educational outcomes and conditions for teachers, have seemingly aligned themselves with controversial and detrimental ideologies. The choices made by these unions harm not only their image, but more importantly, endanger the very essence of quality education in America.