Teachers

Used to be an article of faith that teachers were educators, and in most cases had your kids’ interests at heart. Even now, I think many teachers set out to be the best teachers they can.

(Full admission: I have three, almost four teachers in the family: one a professional who is now the dean at her school, one home-schooling her kids as well as teaching others, one who teaches as part of her doctoral program, and one who was an education major until she actually had to go in the classroom and decided that really wasn’t for her. Hey, 75% isn’t bad. Yeah, we got teachers.)

But teachers as political people? That seems to be a more recent phenomenon. Geez, no one ever mentioned politics when I was young, much less did things like hang gay pride flags or whatnot. That has changed, and changed in a big way.

A new pair of reports is shedding fresh light on how teachers unions across the country have quietly poured more than $1 billion into political causes over the past decade, with a top education watchdog warning the spending reflects a growing focus on activism rather than classroom priorities.

Billion, with a B. Remember what Mr. Stevenson (Adlai, not Robert Louis) had to say about them.

According to research from Defending Education, national teachers unions alone have directed roughly $669 million toward left-wing political groups, advocacy organizations and campaigns since 2015. When state and local affiliates are included, that figure balloons to more than $1 billion in total political spending.

The reports track spending from the two largest unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), as well as their state-level affiliates, using federal filings and campaign finance records.

Unions also directed tens of millions toward major Democratic-aligned political committees, including the Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC.

Parents, families, and communities have little to no counter to the influence that teachers union dollars have on state and local campaigns. Gone are the days of unions just advocating for higher wages, better working conditions, and good health insurance; they are a political machine focused on fomenting a ‘political revolution.’”

Think those unionized teachers’ money is going to lobby for improvements in teacher pay? Working conditions? Money for miscellaneous school supplies? How many #2 Ticonderogas could a billion buy?

It’s time to dispense with the myth that unions care whatsoever about teachers’ best interests. Educators are victims of a bait-and-switch: instead of their dues going to advocate for increased pay or improved working environments, they’re being spent advancing a hard-left political agenda, underwriting causes such as climate change, gender activism, and abortion (as well as supporting progressive politicians at all levels),” Neily said. (Defending Education President Nicole Neily – ed.)

“Given the outsized role that unions have played in the education system over the past fifty years, greater transparency on union spending is absolutely critical so that policymakers and teachers themselves can make informed decisions about the role that these entities should — or should not — play in the future.”

Some of the progressive groups in the report who took money from the nation’s most powerful teachers unions include: Color of Change + PAC, Indivisible, National Center for Transgender Equality, Planned Parenthood, Sixteen Thirty Fund, New Venture Fund and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Keep an eye on the May Day protests. Teachers’ money is funding some of that.

Category: Politics