Key Points
- The GAI spent a year digging into the ballooning influence of teachers unions.
- They’re no longer about working conditions and pay raises —they’re about social activism.
- The COVID pandemic created unique opportunities for unions to work on, “Reimagining Education.”
While the cat’s away, the mice will play. For the sake of this metaphor, the cat represents school parents and their children — waylaid by a global pandemic — with little to do save for purchasing better webcams and hope the tiny picture inside the screen knows what it’s talking about.
That leaves our mice — fascinating little buggers. For example, did you know the most prominent temperament associated with mice is dominance?
…and so we have our teachers unions, flexing on the nation’s education system, whilst parents juggle a job, remote learning, and the never ending search for that Google Classroom login info.
All that’s to say, we’ve been distracted. And teachers unions like the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have been making some controversial changes — expanding their influence and power over policy — while most of us can’t even muster the strength to get out to a PTA meeting.
For example, according to the Government Accountability Institute, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) passed resolutions that supported Democratic presidential candidates and advocated for liberal positions on issues that were politically divisive. The leader of the National Education Association (NEA) even admitted that the union’s mission had been expanded to include social activism. The teachers unions’ expenditures reflected these priorities. These expenditures went exclusively to support progressive causes and candidates.
The Government Accountability Institute (GAI) spent a year digging into the ballooning influence of teachers unions: two years of resolutions; associations of high-ranking officials; even public statements. What they found —shocking. Teachers unions aren’t just out for better conditions and wages anymore.
Let’s look at some of the major players.
For starters, Randi Weingarten, the leader of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) since 2008, dramatically increased the union’s political spending since taking office. According to GAI analysis of campaign finance records, AFT campaign contributions spiked from $3.7 million in 2008 to $20 million during the 2020 election cycle.
That’s a lot of scratch. But, more importantly, that can buy a lot of influence.
Next, we have NEA leader Lily Eskelsen Garcia who confirmed to Education Week that the “core business” of the NEA is no longer pensions and health insurance, but social activism and political lobbying. Eskelsen Garcia stated that leadership changes at her union have allowed it to focus on broader social issues like immigration policy and racial justice.
You know, the three R’s: reading, writing, and racial justice.
If all this sounds like it has little bearing on whether or not your child passes her next test — you’re right. It’s a significant shift in what “education” actually means and it’s coming from the top. It’s a power grab, imposing progressive ideas on unsuspecting school children.
The COVID pandemic created unique opportunities for unions to work on, like “Reimagining Education” (the cat’s away, remember?). It provided cover for radical changes to public education and exploited the crisis to financially benefit powerful elites. (Randi Weingarten, for example, wasted a million dollars of union funds on counterfeit COVID PPE supplies from China, and funneled loads of cash to her cronies in New York.)
“Reimagining Education” also included the implementation of controversial issues like Critical Race Theory and gender ideology; unions disseminated radical curricula to teachers and schools, creating new professional standards and stoking strife between teachers and families (just Google “Loudoun County School Board”).
In the coming days, The Drill Down and GAI will share more of this shocking report. Until then, a message for school parents: keep your powder dry.