I & I Editorial BoardIf you want evidence that teachers’ unions are nothing more than taxpayer-funded left-wing rackets, look no further than the evidence dug up by the Progressive Policy Institute — a group founded by centrist Democrats.
The stronger the union presence in a state, the worse students do on literacy instruction.
It’s no secret that, despite the fact that taxpayers fork over roughly $1 trillion every year to finance public K-12 schools, math and reading scores are in decline.
“Children have lost so much ground, they not only know less than their counterparts did a decade ago; older children know as little as they have this century,” notes the PPI’s Rachel Canter. A new Gallup poll finds that just 32% of adults are “completely” or “somewhat” satisfied with the U.S. school system, down from 51% in 2019.
But that broad brush obscures important differences. Namely, that some states are doing much better than others. And what do these states have in common? Teachers’ unions are weaker.
“When my colleagues and I compared the Fordham teachers’ union strength ranking to ExcelinEd’s early literacy tracker, we found a strong, negative correlation between the two — the more powerful the unions, the fewer literacy policy principles the state had adopted,” Canter wrote in the Wall Street Journal. (See the chart at right.)
Sure, there are some outliers, but even those prove the point that teachers’ unions are a racket. As Canter notes, needed reforms in New Mexico, Maryland and Massachusetts came “despite pushback from their unions.”
The Massachusetts literacy reform bill requiring “evidence-based literacy instruction” in public schools has been described as “the greatest legislative loss for the teachers’ union in a decade.”
It’s not as though there isn’t evidence that these reforms work. Mississippi embarked on a comprehensive, science-based literacy effort more than a decade ago, and saw its students go from the bottom of the barrel nationwide to at or near the top 10 in reading and math.
So let’s see if we have this right. Each year, teachers’ unions collect more than $700 million in dues, all paid by taxpayers, and promise to “champion high-quality public education” and “fulfill the purpose of public education,” according to the mission statements of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
Yet they wage wars against reforms that they know will improve education outcomes. Not just literacy programs, but merit pay, school choice, and countless other common-sense reforms.
So, what are these unions doing with all that money they collect if not fighting to fulfill their stated missions?
Turns out, they are far more interested in getting Democrats elected and pushing far-left causes.
Earlier this year, a report from Defending Education found that national teachers’ unions “have directed roughly $669 million toward left-wing political groups, advocacy organizations and campaigns since 2015,” a number that tops $1 billion when you count state and local affiliates.
This includes more than $2.4 million to the far-left Center for American Progress, $7 million to the Democratic Governors Association, nearly $26 million to the Democrats’ House Majority PAC and $32 million to the Senate Majority PAC. And, maybe because they figure it will cut down on class sizes, more than $400,000 to pro-abortion groups.
In 2024, the NEA and AFT gave more than $6 million to Democrats and less than $60,000 to Republicans.
Add it all up, and you have organizations that extort money from taxpayers to finance a protection racket for themselves, their Democratic patrons, and various far-left causes (which few taxpayers would support), while engaging in fraud by pretending to be looking out for the interests of public-school students.
We’re not lawyers, but we’d say that classifies as a criminal racket under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Support Independent Journalism
Issues & Insights was founded by seasoned journalists from the IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day -- without fear or favor.
We’re doing this on a voluntary basis because we believe in a free press and because we aren't afraid to tell the truth, even if it means being targeted by the left.
We are 100% reader supported!!
If you like what you see, please feel free to donate.
And be sure to tell your friends!
Its not only that the K-12 educational outcomes have declined drastically but its also that the teacher union all in compensation has increased a lot, particularly for 180-185 school year.
Net result all taxpayers are drastically overpaying for educational outcomes
The unions act exactly like organized crime because they hold hard working families hostage by hanging a strike over the head of the district families.
Agree!
Throw RICO and Sherman Antitrust Act and the kitchen sink at the Teacher’s unions to save and to protect the USA. Send that crazy ranting union women in the video to Havana!
In my city, the public schools “graduate” or “socially promote”…33% of the students as illiterates; cannot read or write. Hence, will not get even an entry job and will be on the social dole, more taxpayer money, for the rest of his life.
Taxpayers pay about $30,000 per year per student for 12 years of free education for all that failure, here.
Declining enrollment while hiring more teachers and more teachers aides, more union dues; if a teacher is so horrible he is put in a “rubber room,” paid full salary, not allowed to teach, and not fired. If fired, the union loses his union dues!
Charter, parochial and private schools have none of this abuse of and criminal corruption of education. All are non union! Why has the criminal enterprise of the teacher’s unions been tolerated by law enforcement, Mayors, School Boards, AG’s, State Legislatures, Congress and the President for so many decades?
Agreed 100%
The two glaring conclusions that manifest themselves: One, we are all stupid for supporting public schools and paying their stipends-and, therefore, subsidizing the teachers unions.
2) We all are most likely graduates of public schools.
When the largest teachers union in Colorado votes to “abolish Capitalism” you know you have a problem.
State and local school officials in those states in the bottom of the graph are as guilty as the unions.
Why limit it to teachers? In the 21st century, every union is a racket for access to labor. They protect bad actors and rip everybody off.