For years, parents have wondered why America’s classrooms keep failing while union bosses keep thriving. A new report helps explain it: the nation’s two largest teachers unions — the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — have poured a staggering $43.5 million into left-wing political groups since 2022.
The findings come from Defending Education, a watchdog group that dug through federal disclosures to the Department of Labor. What they found confirms what parents and taxpayers have long suspected: the unions aren’t spending their members’ dues to improve schools or help kids master reading and math. They’re bankrolling a political agenda.
Among the recipients of union largesse were some of the biggest names in the left-wing dark-money machine: the Tides Network, the Sixteen-Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, and even Future Forward, a group aligned with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Together, these outfits fuel progressive activism and electoral machinery across the country.
The teachers unions didn’t stop there. They also funneled big checks into the Democratic Governors Association, House Majority PAC, and Senate Majority PAC — the core fundraising arms for the Democratic Party. Think tanks like the Center for American Progress and its 501(c)(4) wing cashed in nearly a million dollars as well.
Meanwhile, according to the report, only a fraction of union budgets goes toward representing the teachers they claim to serve. The NEA, for example, dedicated just 10 percent of its budget to “representational activities,” while nearly four times that went straight into political activism.
As Aaron Withe, a longtime union watchdog, put it:
“You’d think in light of the decline in union membership in recent years, that they’d start providing value to members that outweighs the cost of membership. Instead, they are appeasing the radical base of union members by advocating for men in women’s sports, transitioning minors, antisemitism, and other radical ideological stances.”
The scale is jaw-dropping, but it may also just be the beginning. Withe warned that the national unions are only the tip of the iceberg, with thousands of local and state affiliates also channeling dues money into the same causes.
The NEA and AFT refused to comment when asked about the report. Silence, in this case, speaks volumes.
