The grassroots education reform organization Defending Education reported that the two U.S. teachers’ unions recently gave more than $40 million to “left-wing” and “far-left political organizations.”
DE posted a rundown of the spending on its website, pointing out that the two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, turned over a combined total of $43,524,125 to a long list of progressive organizations.
It broke down the total into the NEA, providing $28,776,500 to the politically connected groups, with the AFT handing over $14,747,625. DE said it based its report on union disclosures to the Department of Labor.
DE said the bulk of the contributions went to MoveOn.org, PEN America, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Trevor Project, and a handful of state and federal leftwing Political Action Committees. The donations it reported go back to 2022.
The reporting group describes its work as fighting "indoctrination in classrooms and on campus to promote the reestablishment of a quality, non-political education for all students.”
Sarah Parshall Perry, DE vice president and legal fellow, told the New York Post that the audit “sheds much needed light on exactly what the NEA and the AFT prioritize - and it isn’t America’s schoolkids.” She said, “Teachers unions don’t educate kids.”
Perry claimed, “They seemingly exist for no other reason than to spend money, complain about parental involvement in their children’s education, and advance left-wing causes wholly unrelated to improving educational outcomes in American schools.”
Jim Mishler ✉
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