Randi Weingarten locked American kids out of classrooms for two years and called it science.
Now the woman who runs the organization fighting back has a name for what the teachers unions did next.
What she said on camera is going to make a lot of union-dues-paying teachers very angry.
Where NEA Union Dues Actually Go
The National Education Association's annual budget hit $450 million in fiscal year 2025.
Less than 10 percent of it – $46 million – went toward activities that directly supported or represented union members.
The rest went to left-wing PACs and dark money vehicles funneling cash to Senate Majority PAC, House Majority PAC, and the Democratic Governors Association.
Over 99 percent of the NEA's campaign contributions went to Democrats.
Tina Descovich, CEO of Moms for Liberty, told the Daily Signal exactly what that looks like.
"Democrats are never going to go against what the teachers unions want because they are funded by them," she said. The arrangement, she added, amounts to "a money laundering scheme for political corruption."
That is not a talking point. That is a financial structure.
Teachers Union Indoctrination Agenda Has Nothing to Do With Schools
Descovich has spent years tracking union resolutions, and what she described is not education policy.
The NEA voted to brand President Trump a fascist, push gender ideology events in public schools, abolish ICE, and designate May 1 as a day of civic action – the same date the Communist Party uses for International Workers' Day.
They also voted to sever all ties with the Anti-Defamation League – then erased their own handbook from their website after getting caught removing the word "Jewish" from a Holocaust reference.
Meanwhile, 45 percent of American high school seniors cannot do basic math, and 32 percent cannot read at a basic level – both record lows, confirmed by the Nation's Report Card in September 2025, when 12th-grade math and reading scores hit their lowest points since testing began.
"The teachers unions are the reason public education is failing in America," Descovich said. They focus on "everything but education."
Teachers Are Forced to Fund Democrat Campaigns With Their Own Dues
The rank-and-file teachers paying those dues did not vote for any of this.
"They don't agree with their hard-earned money going to support Democrat candidates that are diametrically opposed to what they believe in and what they value," Descovich said, "but teachers feel forced to pay their dues to the unions."
Forced is the right word. Descovich said teachers are coerced and intimidated into joining and staying in – kept paying whether they agree with the agenda or not.
The California Teachers Association president showed up to a convention wearing a shirt with a Marxist fist reading "Solidarity is a Lesson Plan." That is who decides where the money goes.
In the 2023–2024 cycle, the American Federation of Teachers and NEA combined with other government unions to spend over $915 million on politics. Eighty-six percent came directly from member dues.
Teachers begging for classroom supply donations while union bosses write $1.25 million checks to Senate Majority PAC – that is not a coincidence. That is the business model.
Marsha Blackburn Moves to Strip the NEA Federal Charter
In July 2025, Rep. Mark Harris introduced the National Education Association Charter Repeal Act.
The NEA holds something no other labor union in America has: a congressional charter, granted in 1906 to support teachers and strengthen schools. Harris’ bill, co-sponsored in the Senate by Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would strip that charter.
Blackburn said what needed saying in the bill's introduction: "The National Education Association has made it crystal clear it's a partisan organization, and it shouldn't be rewarded with a federal charter that platforms woke gender ideology, antisemitism, and left-wing propaganda."
Descovich called it Step One – and meant it as a floor, not a ceiling.
"That legislation has yet to be voted on by the committee," she said – a reminder that the road ahead is long and Democrats control the exits.
Congress chartered the NEA in good faith over a century ago. The organization that exists today has abandoned that mission entirely, and every Democrat in Congress is fine with it – because the machine that replaced it writes their campaign checks.
That is a political machine with a pension plan.
Sources:
- Pedro Rodriguez, "Teachers Unions Have Become the Democratic Party's 'Money Laundering Scheme,' Moms for Liberty CEO Says," The Daily Signal, August 8, 2026.
- Mark Harris Press Release, "Rep. Harris and Sen. Blackburn Lead Fight to Repeal the NEA Congressional Charter," markharris.house.gov, July 16, 2025.
- Marsha Blackburn Press Release, "Blackburn, Harris Lead Fight to Hold National Education Association Accountable for Putting Politics Over Students," blackburn.senate.gov, July 16, 2025.
- National Assessment Governing Board, "Nation's Report Card Shows Declines in 8th-Grade Science and 12th-Grade Math and Reading," nagb.gov, September 9, 2025.
- Washington Examiner, "House Republicans renew effort to repeal charter for NEA education union," July 16, 2025.
- Defending Education, "DivertED: National teachers' unions have contributed over $660M to far-left organizations and left-wing political groups," defendinged.org, May 8, 2026.
