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FIRST ON FOX: A new pair of reports is shedding fresh light on how teachers unions across the country have quietly poured more than $1 billion into political causes over the past decade, with a top education watchdog warning the spending reflects a growing focus on activism rather than classroom priorities.
According to research from Defending Education, national teachers unions alone have directed roughly $669 million toward left-wing political groups, advocacy organizations and campaigns since 2015. When state and local affiliates are included, that figure balloons to more than $1 billion in total political spending.
The reports track spending from the two largest unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), as well as their state-level affiliates, using federal filings and campaign finance records.
“These entities are a political machine,” Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, told Fox News Digital.
NATION’S 2 LARGEST TEACHERS UNIONS FUNNELED NEARLY $50M TO LEFT-WING GROUPS, WATCHDOG REPORT SAYS
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, are pictured together. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for March For Our Lives)
“Show me your budget and I will show you what you value; and what the teachers unions value is political power and advancing a left wing, 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. 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.’”
The Defending Education report found the unions’ political spending stretches across a vast network of progressive organizations and political committees, including the State Engagement Fund, which received more than $60 million, and For Our Future Action Fund and its affiliates, which pulled in more than $40 million.
Unions also directed tens of millions toward major Democratic-aligned political committees, including the Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC.
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In addition, the report found more than $85 million went directly to Democratic Party entities at the federal, state and local levels, not including individual candidate contributions.
At the same time, unions funded a wide range of progressive causes, from climate initiatives to ballot campaigns opposing school choice, often routing money through nonprofit groups and political action committees.
Some of the progressive groups in the report who took money from the nation’s most powerful teachers unions include: Color of Change + PAC, Indivisible, National Center for Transgender Equality, Planned Parenthood, Sixteen Thirty Fund, New Venture Fund and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Defending Education President Nicole Neily argued the findings challenge long-standing assumptions about how union dues are used.
“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),” Neily said.
“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.”
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NEA President Becky Pringle speaks at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, 2025, defending public education ahead of Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
The spending revelations come as unions and allied organizations ramp up mobilization efforts ahead of May Day protests, which critics have previously warned could serve as a major political organizing push.
As Fox News Digital previously reported, teachers unions have played a role in preparing for large-scale demonstrations, with activists framing the events as part of a broader “political revolution.”
“It’s very clear that teachers unions seek to destroy our country by turning our students against it,” Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO Ryan Walters told Fox News Digital earlier this year.
Fox News Digital reached out to the NEA and AFT for comment.