new report: Teachers unions spending more on Democrat politics than on helping members | Eastern NC Now

America has two national teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA).  North Carolina's teachers union, the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) is affiliated with the NEA.  A new report finds that both are heavily involved in funding Democrat politics.

The report from a study by a number of groups, including Rutgers University, found that the national teachers unions both spend more on Democrat politics than they do on activities to assist and support their own members.  Each union has been only spending about ten percent of its budget on assistance, support, and advocacy for its members. Both spent several times this amount, directly or indirectly on Democrat political efforts.

For the NEA, of its $450 million 2025 annual budget, only $46 million was spent on representing its constituent members.  On the other hand, the NEA spent $51.7 million on direct political activities on behalf of Democrats and another $123.3 million on indirect political activities.  An example of the indirect expenditures is the State Engagement Fund, a leftwing dark money group that funds leftwing political operations at the state level. The NEA is the largest contributor to that dark money fund.

https://www.thefp.com/p/how-teachers-unions-became-political

Or, here is another good one. Last year, national teachers union boss Randi Weingarten published a leftwing screed of a book entitled "Why Fascists Fear Teachers." It turned out that her national union's treasury shelled out $1.4 million for the writing and publication of that book, and Weingarten had the audacity to collect royalists from it.

https://redstate.com/ben-smith/2026/05/19/teachers-paid-for-randi-weingartens-manifesto-then-she-took-a-cut-of-the-royalties-n2202506

Soon, our Beaufort County School Board will have two members of these teachers unions sitting on our school board as "Republicans".