new report: Teachers unions put over $1 Billion into Democrat campaigns, leftist causes | Eastern NC Now

Defending Education, a national group of parents concerned about public education, has released a report revealing over $1 Billion in political contributions by America's teachers unions to Democrats and leftwing causes.  This includes contributions from the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and their state affiliates.  In North Carolina, the NEA has a local affiliate, the NC Association of Educators (NCAE), but the AFT does not.

The report finds NEA gave over $307 million from its dues and over $131 million form its PAC to Democrat and leftwing causes.  The AFT gave over $159 million from dues and over $70 million from its PAC to these causes.  When state and local affiliates are included the total comes to over a billion dollars.

https://defendinged.org/investigations/teachers-unions-spending/

https://redstate.com/ben-smith/2026/04/29/teachers-dues-became-a-1b-democrat-slush-fundnot-classroom-funding-n2201843

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/watchdog-report-exposes-teachers-union-political-machine-funneling-1-billion-liberal-causes?intcmp=xpal_politics

This political activity by teachers unions raises serious questions about how many teachers we have in the classroom who are not being objective in their presentations to students.   In Beaufort County, we need to be concerned that two former teachers union members have won school board nominations in our county.