Teacher unions funnel funds to Democratic lawmakers

The influence of teacher unions

By Esther Wickham | The Center Square




Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., at a town hall in Las Vegas, Feb. 9, 2020. Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Cropped from Original

(The Center Square) – The nation’s two largest teachers' unions directed thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Democratic members of key congressional education committees, according to federal campaign finance records reviewed by The Center Square.

The congressional members whose campaigns received the money supported legislation favoring schools and teachers.

The National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers represent millions of educators nationwide and are among the most politically active labor organizations in the country. The NEA has about 3 million members, while the AFT represents roughly 1.8 million.

Lance Izumi of the Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute said teacher unions' political spending can influence education policy at the federal, state and local levels.

Editor's Note

This is the third in a series on teacher unions, their influence on elected officials and the cost to taxpayers.

Izumi described the national teachers' unions as an “800-pound gorilla” in education politics and pointed to issues including charter schools and school choice as examples of areas where unions have sought to shape policy.

“They don't want the competition,” Izumi, senior director of PRI's Center for Education, told The Center Square during an exclusive interview.

Unions are funded with dues taken out of teacher paychecks, so critics say the taxpayers are basically funding the lobbying and campaign contributions.

The Center Square reached out to both the NEA and AFT multiple times for comments, but union officials did not respond.

Teachers union hosts webinar 'preparing' educators for second Trump term: 'Born for this'

by KRISTINA WATROBSKI | Crisis in the Classroom

Fri, January 17th 2025 at 1:20 PM
Updated Fri, January 17th 2025 at 1:37 PM

National Education Association President Becky Pringle and President-elect Donald Trump (AP)


WASHINGTON (CITC) — The nation's largest teachers union held a webinar Wednesday focused on "preparing" educators for the incoming Trump administration.

The National Education Association (NEA) webinar was held via Zoom and was one part of a series of conversations being led by the union this week. A topic of discussion during the "Preparing for a Second Trump Administration" webinar was immigration, according to a recording taken by parents' rights group Parents Defending Education (PDE).

"I would stress the unpredictability," one speaker said of the topic. "That it is one thing for people at a Trump rally to hold up signs that say 'mass deportations now,' it is something completely different for agents from ICE to be going into schools and grabbing kids, that that is the moment where it becomes shocking to people."

Now obviously, like, the key to figuring out how to respond is to have connections with immigrant groups in your community," the speaker told attendees of the webinar. "They are looking ahead, they're thinking about ... how is this new administration going to affect them, their ability to live without fear and in safety."

School boards nationwide have passed resolutions related to immigration in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's election victory. The Chicago Board of Education in November approved one promising to protect its students from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, noting the school district will not assist the officials with "the enforcement of federal civil immigration law."

Additionally, the Des Moines School Board in Iowa last month reaffirmed its commitment to a "sanctuary" resolution first passed in 2017. The measure instructs schools not to provide ICE with access to students or staff members "without having first contacted and processed their request and all relevant documentation" through the superintendent's office.

Chelsie Acosta, a member of both NEA and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), also delivered remarks to the webinar attendees, PDE's recording shows. Speaking in her capacity as an ACLU member, Acosta explained the civil rights organization has developed a "Firewall for Freedom."

The "Firewall for Freedom" page on the ACLU's website says the organization is "urging" states to "just say no to Trump's radical agenda." The page adds the ACLU has a "playbook" ready to "defend our fundamental freedoms," noting such freedoms include "comprehensive and necessary tools across reproductive rights," "immigration" and "free speech."

So, prior to the election result in November, we already had a plan in action," Acosta said. "If Trump wins, this is what we're going to do. So, we already had a plan in action, and as we like to say on our national board and our staff at ACLU, we were born for this moment."

Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for PDE, told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) in a statement NEA's priorities are "barely connected to K-12 education at all."

"Their new focus is resisting Trump and based on the absurd commentary during this webinar, they might want to look in the mirror to better understand how and why he won," Sanzi said.

NEA endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in July, saying at the time the vice president had a proven record of supporting both public education and unions.

NEA, the ACLU and the Trump-Vance transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Crisis in the Classroom (CITC).

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