The American Federation of Teachers locked kids out of classrooms for two years.
Now a federal filing shows exactly what they did with the dues teachers were forced to pay.
Where it went has nothing to do with classrooms.
AFT Union Dues Went to Clinton Foundation and Al Sharpton
The American Federation of Teachers just filed its annual report with the Department of Labor – and the numbers tell a story union boss Randi Weingarten doesn't want her members to read.
The filing covers July 2025 through June 2026.
The union spent $37 million on "political activities and lobbying."
Another $5.9 million went to "contributions, gifts, and grants" – the catch-all category where unions park money that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else.
Here's where it went.
$250,000 went to the Center for American Progress – John Podesta's Democrat policy factory, built from day one as the left's answer to the Heritage Foundation.
$100,000 was funneled to Emily's List, the group that exists specifically to elect women who support abortion.
Another $100,000 went to the National Action Network – Al Sharpton's personal political operation in New York City.
$100,000 to the American Prospect, a news outlet co-founded by Clinton-era Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
$75,000 to the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
And $10,000 to the Human Rights Campaign, a LGBTQ lobbying group.
"It is political advocacy by another name," Michael Watson, research director at the Capital Research Center, told the Daily Signal.
Watson broke down exactly how the machine operates.
"You've got Center for American Progress developing policy – that's what they do," he said. "Then you've got Emily's List activating women on abortion. Then National Action Network – you've got the Al Sharpton patronage network and identity politics for African-Americans in New York City."
As for the Clinton Foundation, Watson noted that Weingarten had spent years cultivating that relationship — the AFT was the first major national union to break ranks and back Hillary Clinton before the 2016 race was settled.
The dues followed the endorsement.
How Randi Weingarten Turned Mandatory Union Dues Into a Democrat Political Machine
This is not a one-time scandal – it is a decade-long operation.
Back in 2015, the AFT gave $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation and then another $125,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative – twice – all before officially endorsing Hillary Clinton that July.
Conservative watchdog group Defending Education reviewed AFT spending from 2022 to 2024 and found the union sent over $14 million to left-wing organizations in just that two-year window.
Combined with the NEA's $29 million, America's two biggest teachers' unions pushed $43.5 million into far-left political groups in two years.
Watson called organized labor a "load-bearing wall" inside the left-wing coalition.
"This is big labor writing, from its members' dues, a six-figure check to Center for American Progress to have its hand in the public policy development process," he said.
Members don't vote on any of it.
In many states, teachers can't opt out – they pay or they lose their jobs.
Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, said the filing revealed AFT for what it actually is.
"AFT's own filings show how teachers' dues money is being used as a political war chest to advance the far-left agenda of union bosses," Mix said.
While the union was cutting six-figure checks to the Clinton Foundation and Al Sharpton's political network, Weingarten was pulling $546,158 in total personal compensation.
The average American teacher earns $66,397 in base salary.
That gap didn't stop Weingarten from going on television to talk about underpaid teachers.
The reason this continues year after year is structural.
The AFT holds a government-granted bargaining monopoly — politicians have no choice but to negotiate with union leadership, which gives Weingarten a grip on public education policy that rank-and-file teachers have no mechanism to break.
"Until that privilege is ended," said National Right to Work's Mix, "teacher union bosses like Randi Weingarten will continue to abuse this extraordinary power to the detriment of students, teachers, and taxpayers."
Julie Collier, a public school teacher in Oklahoma and founding member of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, drew the only conclusion that makes sense.
"It is all a blaring example of how unions care more about their political strongholds in leftist ideologies than the teachers and the students they teach," Collier said. "It's time commonsense teachers, who value the teaching profession, exit their unions."
The filing doesn't show a union fighting for teachers.
It shows a political operation – funded by mandatory dues from people who never got a vote – writing checks to Al Sharpton, Hillary Clinton, and the Democrat brain trust while Weingarten collects more than eight times what the teachers paying for it all bring home.
Sources:
- Tyler O'Neil, "AFT Dues Funded Left-Wing Infrastructure, From the Center for American Progress to the Clinton Foundation," The Daily Signal, October 6, 2026.
- Jason Hart, "Teachers Union Significantly Ups Spending on Political Activities, Boosts Liberals," The Daily Signal, 2015.
- "Nation's Largest Teachers' Unions Pouring Millions Into Leftwing Groups," Defending Education/TNND, 2024.
- "Podesta's CAP Fuels Dark Money Group Hitting Trump with Lawsuits," Washington Free Beacon.
