America’s 2 largest teachers unions have long claimed to champion educators and protect public schools. But two April 2026 reports tell a different story—one of billion-dollar political activism that increasingly places partisan agendas ahead of classroom priorities.
It is about protecting the union, not its members.
One Fox News report found more than $85 million went directly to Democratic Party entities at the federal, state, and local levels, not including individual candidate contributions.
Since 2015, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have directed roughly $669 million in dues, PAC funds, and affiliated resources to left-leaning political organizations and Democratic political infrastructure. When state and local affiliates are included, that figure exceeds $1 billion.
That is not classroom advocacy. That is political empire-building. Many of the teachers who fund these unions with their dues do not hold the same political views and ideology that the unions promote with their money.
As JC Bowman, CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, bluntly states, “Misusing union dues for partisan agendas undermines the mission to support educators.”
Teachers deserve organizations focused on pay, working conditions, and student success—not partisan warfare. Yet tens of millions have flowed into political entities like Senate Majority PAC, House Majority PAC, and progressive advocacy networks.
“Dues should empower teachers, not fund political campaigns,” Bowman warns. “Lack of transparency in union spending leaves teachers unaware of how their dues support agendas.”
This is the core problem: most teachers entered education to teach children, not to finance ideological causes.“Most teachers want to teach, not engage in politics,” Bowman notes. “Union spending often misrepresents their priorities.”
Under leaders like Becky Pringle and Randi Weingarten, union leadership has increasingly embraced political activism while public support of public education is lost. “Pringle and Weingarten have hijacked education for radical causes, neglecting key issues like pay and working conditions,” Bowman argues.
This report is not about attacking teachers. It is about holding union leadership accountable. “I have often made the point the problem has never been educators. It is the union leaders,” Bowman points out.
At a time when schools face learning loss, teacher shortages, and declining outcomes, billion-dollar political spending raises a serious question: Are unions serving educators and students—or preserving political power?
Teachers deserve better. Parents deserve transparency. Students deserve schools focused on education. When union leadership prioritizes political machines over classroom missions, public trust erodes—and deservedly so.
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