Posts tagged NEA
New Jersey’s Sean Spiller Wants to Lead the NEA. These Teachers Say Follow the Money
June 29, 2026 // Spiller is seeking the presidency of the National Education Association (NEA)—the NJEA’s national affiliate—roughly a year after unsuccessfully running for governor. Roselle teacher Dr. Marie Dupont and Hamilton Township teacher Ann Marie Pocklembo allege in a lawsuit that Spiller and other NJEA officials backed his primary campaign with $40 million of union members’ mandatory dues without their consent. The teachers argue that by funneling their dues through a union-controlled PAC and political organizations with union ties, the NJEA violated its contract with members.
Opinion: The Socialists Are Coming for Your Grandparents
June 29, 2026 // Turns out, the answer lies in betraying the faith the elderly have in historically trusted institutions, such as government labor unions. Leaders like Becky Pringle can start with a light touch of anti-establishment rhetoric about protecting education, and then a few years later can bluntly call for fighting the Trump administration. The picture of her praising Mamdani on BlueSky is the next warning sign. In a few years, we shouldn’t be surprised to see the NEA glorify socialism by name.
Chicago Teachers Seek Billions in Special Session for “What We Are Owed”
June 25, 2026 // The teacher unions funded Democratic campaigns and Democratic politicians then sign off on windfall union contracts without forcing any improvements for the actual students. For these students, the system borders on the criminal. Rather than actually improve their educational results, the Chicago teachers (like unions and administrators in other cities) have lowered their proficiency standards.
What Voters Don’t Know When They ‘Support’ Teachers’ Unions
June 8, 2026 // Yet, despite the poor outcomes shown by the “Nation’s Report Card” and parents’ desire for better options, teachers’ unions continue to oppose school choice. Each student who leaves a public school for an alternative setting reduces district enrollment, which can erode union membership, lower dues collection, and ultimately diminish the union’s influence. Opposition to school choice is often tied to preserving the unions’ base, even though more than two-thirds of Democrats—the primary beneficiaries of union political support—express preferences aligned with Black parents. The core issue is that responses to the Overton Insights question conflate support for teachers with support for union political action. If voters were asked directly about unions’ political behavior, the 55% who currently support teachers’ unions would likely respond differently. In this case, support reflects a misunderstanding, not a true endorsement.
Editorial Board: Unions held Massachusetts schools hostage. Now the bill has come due.
June 3, 2026 // Sometimes even an override isn’t enough. In Brookline, which had a one-day teacher strike in 2022 that ended with a pay raise, voters overwhelmingly approved a tax increase last month that will bring in an extra $23 million, including $18 million for the schools. The vote helped stave off hundreds of teacher layoffs and cuts to the fire department. Even still, the district will still be forced to cut some school jobs. “Not only did these unlawful strikes add to the already historic student learning loss after the pandemic,” said Jim Stergios, the executive director of the Pioneer Institute, “but over the long term jeopardized the jobs of rank-and-file teachers and local municipal budgets.”
Weingarten Blames Screens, Not Herself, For Falling Test Scores
June 3, 2026 // The same union that lobbied to keep students off school grounds is now positioning itself as a champion of children’s well-being, pointing an accusing finger at Silicon Valley while the learning-loss data keeps compounding. The financial record makes that positioning even harder to stomach. A recent analysis of National Education Association and AFT federal disclosures by the Network Contagion Research Institute and the Gevura Fund – of which Tina Snider is president – found America’s two largest teachers unions spend roughly $4 on political activities for every dollar spent on direct member representation. The NEA alone reported more than $51.7 million in political spending in its most recent filing, plus another $123 million in contributions and grants, compared to less than $46 million on the collective bargaining its members thought they were paying for.
More transparency for the largest unions
May 31, 2026 // A new rule from the Labor Department will recalibrate the disclosure reports that labor unions are required to file. It’s a welcome update to ensure that union members know how their money is being spent. What will happen in the 2026 midterms? Sign up for Margin of Victory The reason unions have government-mandated disclosure requirements is that they are government-backed monopolies. Labor relations law gives unions exclusive power as the sole bargaining agent for the entire workplace.
Disregard for students showcased in Sheridan teacher strike
May 27, 2026 // The Sheridan teachers did have a legal right to strike, but not a morally justifiable one. They seriously disrupted the lives of innocent schoolchildren and their parents, holding them hostage to the union’s demands. When a grocery union strikes, customers can do business elsewhere. However, teachers are government employees within a school district that has a monopoly on publicly-funded education. And unlike private sector employers, Colorado school boards can refuse to allow a union. In 2012, a new Republican majority on the Douglas County School Board decertified its teacher union when the collective-bargaining agreement expired. (A new Democrat majority on the DougCo school board will likely welcome the union back with open arms.)
Unions that paralyzed New York commute over pay spent millions on luxury travel, filings show
May 21, 2026 // The disclosures offer a window into how the unions spent money on travel, conferences and event venues during the same year they argued workers were being squeezed by rising costs. The strike disrupted hundreds of thousands of daily riders and cost the region an estimated $61 million per day. LM-2 forms are annual financial disclosure reports that labor unions file with the Department of Labor, detailing receipts, disbursements, officer payments and other spending. Fox News Digital reviewed 2025 LM-2 forms filed with the Labor Department by the five unions involved in the LIRR strike, identifying payments to hotels that market themselves as premium, resorts, casinos and restaurants where menu prices sit above typical casual dining costs.
How Teachers’ Unions Became Political Big Spenders
May 18, 2026 // A new report out today accuses both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) of spending tens of millions of dollars on electing Democratic political candidates, and prioritizing politicking over the needs and interests of their union members. The report, conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), Gevura Fund, and Rutgers University, among others, found that of the NEA’s $450 million annual disbursement budget from fiscal year 2025, less than $46 million, or 10 percent, was spent on activities directly representing the union’s constituents.