Randi Weingarten locked children out of classrooms for two years and called it science.
A new federal filing report just revealed where that money actually went instead.
And one red state governor just made sure she can never do it again with taxpayer help.
Where NEA and AFT Sent Your Tax Dollars Instead of Raising Teacher Pay
The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers didn't spend that billion dollars on better pay or safer classrooms.
A new Defending Education report — built from federal filings and campaign finance records — shows the two unions steered roughly $669 million into radical Left political organizations and campaigns since 2015. Fold in state and local affiliates and the total clears $1 billion.
The State Engagement Fund got $60 million. The For Our Future Action Fund – a political operation that exists to elect Democrats – pulled in $40 million.
More than $85 million went directly into Democrat Party entities at the federal, state, and local levels, and that figure doesn't include individual candidate contributions.
The Senate Majority PAC and the House Majority PAC – the two slush funds Democrats use to keep Chuck Schumer and his allies in power – got tens of millions more.
And they cut checks to Planned Parenthood, the National Center for Transgender Equality, Color of Change + PAC, and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Defending Education research director Rhyen Staley said: "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."
That's not a union. That's a Democrat Party financing operation wearing a union label.
How Union Dues Funded Planned Parenthood and Democrat PACs Instead of Teachers
Teachers across America were told their dues would go toward better pay, safer classrooms, and stronger health insurance.
Instead, Weingarten and NEA President Becky Pringle spent a decade building one of the most powerful radical Left political machines in American history – while the teachers footing the bill watched their real wages fall behind inflation.
Defending Education President Nicole Neily called it exactly what it is: "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."
Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO Ryan Walters went further: "It's very clear that teachers unions seek to destroy our country by turning our students against it."
The money trail proves every word of it.
The unions also bankrolled ballot campaigns against school choice – meaning they spent teacher dues to make sure parents couldn't escape the failing schools those same unions control.
They used your money to trap your kids.
Idaho Banned Taxpayer Funding of Teachers Unions and Other States Are Following
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that public employees cannot be forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment. The unions treated it as a speed bump – and raised dues on remaining members to replace the lost revenue.
Republican state legislatures are finishing the job.
Idaho led the charge this month. Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 516 into law on April 10, 2026 – banning public schools from using taxpayer resources to support teachers unions entirely.
No more government payroll systems collecting union dues out of paychecks. No more paid time off for union activities on the public dime. No more funneling $4.4 million in Idaho teacher dues through government systems to a Washington, D.C.-based political operation.
Little said it himself: "While local and state teachers' associations do important work, they remain private organizations that currently receive taxpayer-funded support not extended to other private entities."
Idaho isn't alone. Florida's legislature passed SB 1296 in March 2026 – tightening recertification rules so severely that unions falling short of new membership thresholds get dissolved. That follows a 2023 Florida law that banned payroll deduction for union dues outright, wiping out more than 100 bargaining units covering tens of thousands of public employees.
Arkansas passed a similar payroll deduction ban. Kentucky's Democrat governor vetoed the same measure – and the Republican legislature overrode him anyway. Tennessee banned payroll deduction and tied the bill to a teacher pay raise, making the choice explicit: money for teachers or money for union bosses.
The NEA and AFT didn't respond to requests for comment on the watchdog report. They didn't have to. The filings say everything.
Weingarten and Pringle built a billion-dollar machine on the backs of teachers who thought they were paying for representation – and used it to fund the same radical Left agenda that turned America's classrooms into indoctrination centers.
Red states aren't waiting for a federal fix. They're pulling the plug state by state, and the machine is starting to go dark.
Sources:
- Andrew Mark Miller, "Watchdog report exposes teachers union 'political machine' funneling more than $1 billion to liberal causes," Fox News, April 27, 2026.
- Katherine Hamilton, "Watchdog Report: Teachers' Unions Pour More Than $1 Billion into Left-Wing Causes," Breitbart, April 27, 2026.
- Defending Education, "DivertED: National teachers' unions have contributed over $660M to far-left organizations," Defending Education, April 2026.
- "Idaho law, signed April 10, 2026, bars public schools from using taxpayer resources for teachers' unions," When In Your State, April 2026.
- "Idaho Gov. Brad Little signs HB 516 banning taxpayer funding of teachers unions," Seattle Red, April 10, 2026.
- "Florida Legislature approves restrictions on public sector unions," Miami Times, March 12, 2026.
