Teachers’ unions have spent more than $1 billion in member dues and fees on political activism and left-wing social causes since 2015, according to a new watchdog report.
The spending captured in Defending Education’s report includes both national and local unions, including $669 million from national unions and $339 million at the local level.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), two national teachers’ unions, spent a combined $669 million over the past ten years, including $44 million to For Our Future, a progressive political group focusing on social equity and climate justice in key battleground states; more than $50 million to the House and Senate Majority PACs; and $19 million to Strategic Victory Fund, a PAC created in 2020 to defeat President Donald Trump.
National teachers’ unions have contributed to hundreds of left-wing organizations and political causes over the past eleven years, including the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Planned Parenthood Votes, and the Trevor Project.
The Trevor Project is self-described as a resource for gender dysphoric adolescents, but embraces an affirmation-only approach, telling parents LGBT youth are four times more likely to commit suicide. The Trump administration defunded the group last summer, costing the Trevor Project a $26 million contract.
The organization’s chatroom, TrevorSpace, was previously described to National Review as a “Pandora’s box” of perverse and concerning content, including encouraging children to hide gender transitions from their parents.
“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),” said Nicole Neily, the president of Defending Education.
The NEA Advocacy Fund has consistently contributed to DAGA People’s Lawyer Project, an independent expenditure committee that funds ads and campaigns to elect Democratic state attorney general candidates. DAGA has received $2,435,000 from the NEA super PAC, created by the union in 2010 to support candidates and policies that ostensibly align with teacher union goals.
DAGA, which received millions from the fund, was one of the top contributors to now-Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones when he was running his 2025 campaign against incumbent Jason Miyares.
“DAGA is proud to announce our additional investment of $1.1 million into Jay Jones’ campaign,” Carolyn Fiddler, DAGA’s director of communications, said in September. “Virginia needs an attorney general who will stop at nothing to protect their rights and freedoms and defend against federal overreach, and MAGA Miyares has continuously proven he is too weak to stand up to Donald Trump.”
DAGA funneled millions into the Jones campaign, even contributing an additional $730,000 following the murder text scandal first reported by National Review in October.
“Show me your budget and I will show you what you value; and what the teachers unions value is political power and advancing a leftwing, social justice agenda. Parents, families, and communities have little to no counter to the influence that teachers union dollars have on state and local campaigns,” Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, said.
Local union spending was just as pervasive, with $339 million spent on local campaigns and progressive political groups.
The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) gave Planned Parenthood $102,500 in 2024. The Ohio Education Association’s OEA Political Contributing Entity contributed a startling $2.9 million to the Ohio Democratic Party, compared to only $23,249 to the Ohio House Republican Alliance.
“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,'” Staley said.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), for example, has given millions to its political arm. According to the Chicago Teachers Union PAC and Chicago Teachers Union Local 1 expenditures, tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on race-based groups, including the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus, the Chicago Alliance Against Racial and Political Oppression, and the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus.
Further, thousands of dollars were recorded as contributions toward the Democratic Party of Illinois. According to the expenditure list, there are no recorded contributions to the Illinois Republican Party.
The CTU, in particular, has faced immense scrutiny for its robust political action. According to a recent poll from the Illinois Policy Institute, 53.6 percent of Chicagoans dislike the union, with only 27.5 percent of voters reporting a favorable opinion of the group.
“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,” Neily said.
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