Randi Weingarten kept your schools locked for two years and called it safety.
Defending Education just finished counting.
What they found in those federal filings is something the NEA never wanted parents to see.
The Numbers They Never Wanted You to See
Defending Education released two reports today tracking NEA and AFT spending since 2015.
The national unions alone directed $669 million toward left-wing groups, campaigns, and advocacy organizations.
Add in state and local affiliates and the total clears $1 billion – documented through federal filings and campaign finance records.
The Senate Majority PAC got tens of millions.
The House Majority PAC got tens of millions.
More than $85 million went straight to Democratic Party entities at the federal, state, and local level – not counting individual candidate contributions.
https://twitter.com/nickineily/status/2048776412862279809?s=20
The State Engagement Fund alone pulled in over $60 million.
For Our Future Action Fund and its affiliates collected more than $40 million.
The money also went to Color of Change, Planned Parenthood, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
"Show me your budget and I will show you what you value," Defending Education Research Director Rhyen Staley told Fox News Digital. "What the teachers unions value is political power and advancing a left-wing, social justice agenda."
Teachers Were the Marks in This Scheme
The NEA spent nearly $42 million on "Political Activities and Lobbying" in a single recent fiscal year – and only $38 million on what it calls representational activities.
That means the union spent more money on political campaigns than it spent representing the teachers it claims to protect.
Only 9 percent of the NEA's budget went to direct assistance for its members.
Two dollars on politics for every one dollar on the people paying the dues.
Defending Education President Nicole Neily called it exactly what it is.
"It's time to dispense with the myth that unions care whatsoever about teachers' best interests," Neily said. "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."
https://twitter.com/DefendingEd/status/2048771162012844500?s=20
Nearly a third of the teachers funding this machine vote Republican.
Not one cent went to a Republican candidate – the NEA's federal contributions run 99 percent Democrat, and the AFT's run 99.9 percent Democrat.
Now They're Coming for Your Kids on May Day
The spending revelations dropped today with four days to go before May 1 – and the NEA has a toolkit already published and ready.
The NEA's May Day 2026 Host Toolkit calls for a nationwide "coordinated day of action" demanding removal of ICE, taxing the rich, and – in their own words – a "political revolution."
The NEA has pumped $1.7 million since 2020 into an organization training educators and students for May Day walk-ins, where participants are directed to enter school buildings together to "protest harmful school conditions."
They're training children as young as three years old.
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter told Fox News Digital that "teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks" – which is why CTU's 30,000-plus members are joining the walkout.
Chicago parents have already threatened legal action.
https://twitter.com/DefendingEd/status/2048771164760056103?s=20
Seventy percent of American students cannot read or do math at grade level.
That is who the NEA is abandoning to build its political army.
"It's very clear that teachers unions seek to destroy our country by turning our students against it," Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO Ryan Walters said.
He is not wrong.
The Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME in 2018 that no public sector employee can be forced to pay union dues.
More than 13,000 teachers have already quit and joined the Teacher Freedom Alliance.
The machine only runs as long as teachers keep funding it.
Sources:
- Andrew Mark Miller, "Watchdog report exposes teachers union 'political machine' funneling more than $1 billion to liberal causes," Fox News, April 27, 2026.
- Rhyen Staley, "DivertED: Teachers' Unions Have Spent Over $250+ Million in Dues on Far-Left Causes," Defending Education, September 29, 2025.
- "NEA Gives Nearly $2M to Organization Associated With 'May Day' Protests," The Center Square, April 2026.
- "Teachers Union Behind Ohio's May Day 'Roadmap to Political Revolution,'" Ohio News, April 2026.
- "Largest Teachers Union Spent Twice as Much on Politics as on Member Needs," Washington Examiner, April 7, 2022.
- "Inside Teachers' Union May Day 'Dress Rehearsal' Critics Warn Will 'Groom' Students Into Dem 'Foot Soldiers,'" Fox News, April 2026.
