From Paychecks to Slush Fund: How Teachers’ Unions Moved $1B Into Democrat Politics
The receipts are in. If you are a teacher who has ever written a dues check and assumed it was going toward better pay, stronger benefits, or a decent contract, read carefully. A new report from Defending Education has blown the lid off one of the most brazen political money machines in American history, and your money is in it.
Since August 2015, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have funneled a combined $669,324,912.33 in member dues and PAC funds into left-wing political entities, far-left nonprofits, and Democratic campaigns. Fold in state and local affiliates, and the total surpasses $1 billion.
Rhyen Staley of Defending Education put it plainly:
“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. 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 big money tells the story. The State Engagement Fund, a Democratic Party infrastructure vehicle, received $60,525,000. The For Our Future Action Fund took $44,732,078. The Senate Majority PAC received $32,655,000. The House Majority PAC got $25,842,790. The Strategic Victory Fund, created in 2020 explicitly to defeat Donald Trump, received $19,300,000.
On top of all that, the unions pumped over $85 million directly into Democrat Party entities at every level of government, not counting a single dollar in individual candidate contributions. The Biden Victory Fund received $923,500. The Hillary Victory Fund got $444,250. The Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation collected $725,000, with another $400,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative.
This is the wholesale conversion of teacher paychecks into a Democrat Party slush fund.
The ideological line items are worse. Media Matters for America received $700,000. The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money vehicle in the Arabella Advisors network, received $4,433,000. Color of Change and its PAC got $3,310,000. Planned Parenthood Votes received $350,000.
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The NEA paid the Trevor Project $100,000, an organization whose chatroom was described as a "Pandora's box" of disturbing content that encouraged minors to hide gender transitions from their parents. The Trump administration defunded the group last year by cutting a $26 million federal contract. The unions cut a check directly to race theorist Ibram X. Kendi for $7,418. They paid Gender Inclusivity LLC $29,250. They funneled $1,755,000 to the Midwest Academy, a group currently training activists for the May Day 2026 mobilization. This is not a union protecting teachers. It is a political apparatus funding the ideological transformation of American life.
Perhaps most cynically, the unions spent massively to kill school choice. Support Our Schools Nebraska, which repealed a school choice law, received $4,298,076 from the NEA. Protect Our Schools Kentucky received $7,215,000 to fight voucher legislation. Public Schools Strong received $4,137,500 to campaign against school choice in Colorado. Save Our Public Schools got $5,400,000.
The partisan fingerprints at the local level are just as damning. The Ohio Education Association gave $2.9 million to the Ohio Democrat Party and $23,249 to the Ohio House Republican Alliance, a ratio of 125 to 1. The Chicago Teachers' Union funded the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus, the Chicago Alliance Against Racial and Political Oppression, and the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus. Its expense records show zero dollars to the Illinois Republican Party. Not one cent.
Nicole Neily, Defending Education's president, was equally blunt:
“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.”
A billion dollars spent. Not on teachers. Not on students. Not on classrooms or salaries. On political power. The only question left is whether the teachers who were robbed will finally demand their money back.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
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