Why Teachers Unions Should Be Decertified
- Fellow Editors
- Jul 14
- 12 min read
Updated: Jul 15
Facts and Financials Show That Unions Abandoned Their Non-Partisan Mission To Represent Teachers Long Ago
In the past five years, Republican Congressmen have introduced bills to repeal the charter of the National Education Association, commonly known as the teachers' union. This is what that means:
Congress has “chartered” 94 nonprofit organizations through the years, which essentially means that Congress officially recognizes these groups’ work as important and valuable to the nation.
Some of the most prominent chartered groups include Little League Baseball, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, the FFA (Future Farmers of America), the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars).
The NEA (National Education Association) was chartered by Congress in 1906. Today, it’s the only labor union with a congressional charter. Republicans have increasingly criticized that designation, because while virtually every other congressionally-chartered nonprofit remains nonpartisan in its public dealings, the NEA most certainly does not.
For example, they officially endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020. (You don’t exactly see the Little League or the Boy Scouts officially endorsing presidential candidates.) So far during the 2022 election cycle, 98% of the NEA’s donations to congressional candidates have been bestowed on Democrats.
Here is one of the bills was proposed by former Congressman Bob Good in 2023:
The sponsors of the bill stated these findings:
The National Education Association (referred to in this section as the NEA) was chartered in 1906 by an Act of Congress for the purpose to elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching; and to promote the cause of education in the United States and remains the only labor union that has a Federal charter.
By continuing to hold its Federal charter, the NEA is basically receiving a seal of approval from and support of their actions by Congress.(3)
The NEA can no longer be considered a public service worthy of its Federal charter as it has drifted substantially from its core mission and become a massive political operation dedicated to electing Democrats and imposing a radical progressive agenda on America’s schools.(4)
In July 2019, NEA members held a conference and voted against adding a business item to the organization that stated: The National Education Association will re-dedicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America by putting a renewed emphasis on quality education. NEA will make student learning the priority of the association..(5)i
In the same conference, members voted in support of the right to an abortion, supporting illegal immigrant justice, and expanding professional development for educators to help create student Gender Sexuality Alliance clubs.(6)
According to disclosures made to the Office of Labor-Management Standards, from September 2019 to August 2021 the NEA spent over $116.7 million on political activities and lobbying, and in the 2020 election cycle, 95.7 percent of candidate campaign contributions by the NEA went to Democrat candidates.(7)
The NEA adopted measures in July 2021 to support critical race theory, calling it reasonable and appropriate, and to spend $56,500 on researching and shaming organizations fighting the inclusion of critical race theory in schools.(8)
The NEA and other teacher unions stood in the way of reopening schools in 2020 and 2021 by threatening strikes, donating to Democrat candidates that backed school closures, and influencing CDC guidance process to make it harder for schools to reopen.(9)
The bill did not pass. However, there are rumblings that it could be reintroduced based after the NEA passed these "secret" resolutions at their recent convention in Portland, Oregon (Courtesy of Corey DeAngelis) Largest US teachers union, the NEA, encourages resistance to 'Trump’s embrace of fascism' | Just The News
From those resolutions:
“NEA pledges to defend democracy against Trump’s embrace of fascism by using the term facism [sic] in NEA materials to correctly characterize Donald Trump’s program and actions," according to the union's resolution. "NEA will use existing media channels to oppose any move to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education as an illegal, anti-democratic, and racist attempt to destroy public education and privatize it in the interests of the billionaires.”
"NEA opposes Immigration and Customs Enforcement kidnapping student leaders and supports students’ right to organize against ICE raids and deportations," read another resolution.
The NEA stated it will no longer endorse or publicize material from the Anti-Defamation League, an organization founded to combat antisemitism.
“Allowing the ADL to determine what constitutes antisemitism would be like allowing the fossil-fuel industry to determine what constitutes climate change,” NEA delegate Stephen Siegel said at the convention.
When an organization tells you their priorities in resolutions, you should believe they will be concerned about those things FIRST and almost exclusively. Add to those resolutions the unhinged behavior and actions of the union leaders, and it's a no-brainer.
Let’s take a long hard look at teachers unions. There are two large teachers unions in the U.S., the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. It’s interesting that the NEA, which used to be the National Teachers Association, changed its name in 1870 to the National Education Association. Who knows why they did it, branding, assumption of other organizations, etc.
I guess its a good thing they did that, because somewhere in the 20’s, the mission of the NEA began to change. Instead of being focused primarily on representing teachers, it pivoted to promoting social justice issues. Yes, social justice. If you view the NEA history timeline, you won’t see important dates listed where they accomplished improvements in teacher’s salaries and/or working conditions, you will see dates when they developed committees that focused on ethnic minorities, when they elected a Hispanic President, a Black President, all female leadership team, and, finally, in 2015, where they named “eradicating institutional racism” as a consuming issue on their agenda. That same year they acknowledged “the existence of White Supremacy as a primary root cause of institutional racism, structural racism, and White privilege.” So, I guess their White dues paying members are part of the problem?
Still waiting for the part where they care about teachers.
The other union, the American Federation of Teachers, was created in 1916 as part of the AFL union. In their history, they do list things they have done for their member teachers, issues like academic freedom, raising salaries, and abolishing board required loyalty oaths that developed as part of the Red Scare. Progressing to the current years, they pretend to center themselves on improving conditions and salaries for teachers. Even their mission statement still includes “high quality public education” and “collective bargaining.” That is a smokescreen.
But the AFT can’t resist pivoting their attention to other issues including community organizing, political activism, and healthcare for students. And, unfortunately, if you go to the AFT Resolutions you’ll see a long list of resolutions addressing excessive force by police officers, Black Lives Matter at School Week, military spending, LGBTQ support, and on and on. Don't forget endorsements for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the past two elections. The list of organizations they donate to is shocking. It can be found here:
In four pages of resolutions, none are about teachers’ salaries or working conditions. NONE.
The American Federation of Teachers, unlike the NEA, is not a federally chartered organization. Thank goodness.
Still, they are part of the huge union problem in U.S. Education and that's why we include their information in this article.
None of the activity of either of these unions actually surprises me. Aside from a span of approximately six months in my career when I must have been naive, I never saw the Teachers Union as useful. The only reason I paid the dues every month was because I was under the impression that they would fight for my rights only if I was a member. I didn’t realize it didn’t matter if I was a member or not because of state law because they would still have to represent me.
Early in my career, I went to a state convention and was bullied for six hours to donate to Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s campaign for Governor. The union crossed a huge line in the sand with me that day. I saw what they cared about, and it wasn’t teachers. I didn't give in from that struggle session even though they kept telling me it made my county delegation the ONLY one that didn't have 100% participation in donations. "It's your fault," they said. That just made me more determined NOT to support her or the union.
Later on in my career, I watched our local union president organize bus trips to political rallies to support only Dems. We were promised a bus ride and free lunch. When I asked if my dues, the dues of Conservative Republican member, were going to this trip, I was told the money came out of a different fund. Uh huh.
Some may argue that the lack of focus at the national level doesn’t accurately portray what unions do locally. They would be completely wrong. These state and local chapters endorse local candidates, Democrats only, at the state and local level, putting them on the famous "Apple ballot." This article shows that these endorsements are never made by the actual membership:
The National Education Association is a cash cow, not only for candidates but employees. It’s astounding how much money national union officials make. The union has over 700 employees, and at least two thirds of them have compensation of over $100,000 dollars a year. The President makes $429,569; and the top 25 employees listed make over $200,000. Even a job listed as” Senior Confidential Specialist” makes over $100,000. (And what exactly does that person do? Make sure he stamps secret documents with “confidential”?) Give me that job!
Here’s the best part. The NEA has close to three million members, and lists assets of $384,604,468. That’s more than some small countries.
Salaries at the AFT are very close, although they only have close to 2 million members and $135,654,970 in assets. Both organizations have top officials who make ten times more than the average teacher.
Where do they get income? Aside from member dues, the unions get money from donors, grants, and investments. Somewhere in those donors are people like George Soros, the Clintons and organizations linked to the Democrat National Committee such as ACT Blue.
What is more important is how do they spend that money?
One would think that the bulk of NEA funds should be spent on “representational activities” or activities that actually help their members, i.e. legal representation, negotiating contracts, improving working conditions and pay. These are the activities that are supposed to be the core purpose of the NEA.
NEA spent nearly $430 million in 2024. That’s about 1.2 million per day. They spent $39 million dollars on representational activities. That equals about 11 cents per dollar and 7.5% of their total budget.
But, good news for their top employees. Spending on salaries was $48 million, $9 million more than its total spending on representational activities. President Becky Pringle made $495,787 in 22-23. This is 8 1/2 times what the average teacher makes. The Secretary/Treasurer made $400,004 and the VP made $397,325.
NEA spent over $39 million on “political activities and lobbying” and $127 million on other “contributions, gifts and grants” which are mostly political in nature. These include funding their own political action committees, ballot initiatives (that often have nothing to do with teachers or education) and at least $20 million to self-proclaimed “progressive” organizations. ( NEA: Where Do Your Union Dues Go? - Americans for Fair Treatment)
One example is a group called the “Democracy Alliance” a group of wealthy liberal donors that Politico calls” the left’s secret club.”
Between 1990 and 2010, 93% of donations made by the NEA via political action committees and individual officers went to Democrats. However, only 41 % of the teacher members during that time identified as Democrats. The chart below shows how money is spent on candidates, by party. So, while members of both the NEA and AFT are told their dues are being used to get better wages, benefits, and working conditions, that is nowhere near the truth. The unions aren't representing almost half of their members politically:
Unions don’t care about teachers other than how they can use their numbers as a way to garner more money and power. As the Wall Street Journal once said, “the union is a honey pot for left wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers.”
We can't forget the state associations either. In Maryland, the State Education Association has $56 million in assets. The Executive Director makes $248,796 a year. The CFO makes over $216,000 a year. Overall, 11 employees make six figure salaries.
What about the local affiliates?
It’s difficult to compare county association salaries to those of the National or State organizations since most of these salaries are not readily available. Most of the time the President of the Local Union is still teaching while conducting union activities. They do get paid a stipend.
HOWEVER, this doesn’t mean they care any more about teachers.
In my teaching career, I knew one local union President who kept the job to prevent administration from firing him/her because he/she was a terrible teacher. I know, one of my children suffered in that teacher's class.
Of course, that doesn't mean those other local union presidents weren't out there on the front lines slandering conservatives and conservative candidates or sending busloads of their local union members to protests and campaign events, particularly in the last ten years.
And let's not forget the "apple ballot" fiasco in most counties where the union slavishly endorses only Democrats.
Things are not getting better. They are getting worse.
On the national scene, the National Education Association has abandoned its premise of representing teachers and moved to extreme positions such as implicitly supporting antisemitism, fighting parental rights, supporting illegal immigration, and promoting harmful psychological and medical practices in the name of transgenderism. Oh, and let's not forget about their mission to foment hatred for Trump. As we saw from the shared resolutions, education and teachers are no longer their focus. This is why they should not be one of 94 organizations chartered by the U.S. Government.
Here's their president ranting about ICE:
Above is NEA President Becky Pringle demanding that ICE stop deporting illegals. Is that part of the union mission?
Meanwhile we have teachers in some states/counties who are being assaulted by students and intimidated by Board Members/Administrations in order to keep them silent. They face unethical and discriminatory actions by school-based administrations. They are told being told not to discipline certain students due to demographics and to make sure they pass/graduate students who cannot read, write or do math in the name of equity. They can't even hold students accountable when they don't do assignments or fail tests.
When these teachers take these issues to the Board of Education and Superintendent, they are either shut down or ignored. Even the union, the ones who are supposed to help, are not responsive. Instead, they turn their head and begin screeching about supporting political agendas such as illegal immigration and abolishing ICE. These that issue that support the Communist Manifesto, not the Constitution of the United States.
Why? Why are even the local union affiliates unwilling to help these teachers fight and expose what is going on?
In some cases, it may be that the unions and the administrations are so friendly to each other that they form a mutual protection bubble.” I won’t tell on you, you won’t hassle me.”
Maybe they have been intimidated into silence as well. After all, even being a local union head may not protect one from an undesirable assignment in the system. Or, maybe the reverse is in play. They get more favorable assignments if they keep the system out of the union (and public) radar. Some get to keep their job even if they themselves are an unsuccessful teacher.
It could also be that the resources of the state and national union are not as available to the locals as national sends a lot of their millions to organizations that gain them political clout.
Or, maybe they are too lazy and just don’t care. Unlike national officers, locals don’t make a lot of money for this.
For the NEA, the lack of true representation and focus on education has meant a loss of 14,205 members in the last year and 51,987 since 2021.
Teachers are beginning to see that the dues they pay to these local, state, and national unions are not paying off for them. Their salaries have not improved. Working conditions have not improved. Why pay dues to a union that grandstands for extreme leftist policies while their dues paying members suffer?
Quite frankly, the teachers’ unions, like other unions in this country, have become something they were never intended to be or should be. They are money laundering machines for the political elites and every socialist political cause in the country. They are intentional participants in the destruction of our education system.
And, as Becky Pringle proves, they have become unhinged:
And that hurts EVERYONE. It would be great if we could dismantle BOTH of these fraudulent unions. But a good starting point is denying the National Education Association their national certification. They are grossly partisan and do NOT represent teachers. They do nothing to make education in this country better or more effective.
Helping teachers do their jobs effectively used to be their mission. No more.
Resources:
Teachers' union puts leftism over kids — Congress, step in - Corey DeAngelis and Tiffany Justice
Jan Greenhawk, Author
July 14, 2025
Jan Greenhawk is a former teacher and school administrator for over thirty years. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in Maryland. She also spent over twenty-five years coaching/judging gymnastics and coaching women’s softball.
This article was originally featured on the Easton Gazette.
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