Teacher unions funnel funds to Democratic lawmakers

The National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers represent millions of educators nationwide and are among the most politically active labor organizations in the country. The NEA has about 3 million members, while the AFT represents roughly 1.8 million.

Lance Izumi of the Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute said teacher unions' political spending can influence education policy at the federal, state and local levels.

Izumi described the national teachers' unions as an “800-pound gorilla” in education politics and pointed to issues including charter schools and school choice as examples of areas where unions have sought to shape policy.

“They don't want the competition,” Izumi, senior director of PRI's Center for Education, told The Center Square during an exclusive interview.

Unions are funded with dues taken out of teacher paychecks, so critics say the taxpayers are basically funding the lobbying and campaign contributions.

The Center Square reached out to both the NEA and AFT multiple times for comments, but union officials did not respond.

Millions on politics, lobbying

The NEA spent more than $51 million on political activities and lobbying in 2025. The AFT spent more than $41 million. That's according to data The Center Square obtained from Union Facts, a nonprofit that stresses accountability and transparency.

Federal Election Commission records reviewed by The Center Square show the NEA contributed about $5,000 to each of the 16 Democratic members of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor. The AFT contributed about $10,000  to each member during 2025 and 2026. 

The election cycle for the U.S. House of Representatives is split into two separate elections: the primary and general elections. The maximum amount a PAC can contribute is $10,000 per candidate: $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general election. 

The Center Square did not find a single contribution from either the NEA or AFT toward any Republican member of a congressional education committee. 

The combined contributions totaled about $192,000 for the Democratic members of the committee during the 2025-26 fiscal year, according to the records reviewed.  

The lawmakers on the education committee include U.S. Reps. Robert Scott, D-Virginia; Joe Courtney, D-Connecticut; Frederica S. Wilson, D-Florida; Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon; Mark Takano, D-California; Alma S. Adams, D-North Carolina; Mark DeSaulnier, D-California; Donald Norcross, D-New Jersey; Lucy McBath, D-Georgia; Jahana Hayes, D-Connecticut; Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota; Haley M. Stevens, D-Michigan; Greg Casar, D-Texas; Summer Lee, D-Pennsylvania; John Mannion, D-New York; and Adelita Grijalva, D-Arizona.

Each Democratic member of the Education Committee has received support from teacher unions because of their positions on issues such as higher teacher salaries and increased federal funding for public schools, according to Republican members of Congress and other critics of unions. 

For example, Wilson introduced the American Teacher Act, which would provide grants to states to raise the minimum teacher salary to $60,000. The bill was cosponsored by several other Education Committee Democrats, including Adams, Norcross, Casar, Stevens, Omar, Hayes and Courtney.

Scott introduced the Rebuild America's Schools Act, which called for $100 billion in federal investment to repair public schools. The AFT highlighted the legislation in a 2020 press release.

Hayes introduced the amendment, the Teacher Debt Relief Act, to the College Cost Reduction Act. In 2024, the NEA urged Congress to support Hayes's amendment, saying it would help teachers access federal debt relief.

“Teachers are on the front lines of the cost-of-living crisis, spending hundreds of dollars every year on classroom essentials so their students can get ahead. It’s no wonder they want to turn the page from House Republicans who have made everything more expensive," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Aidan Johnson told The Center Square. "It’s not complicated: Teachers are supporting Democrats because Democrats support teachers.” 

The Center Square reached out to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee for a comment but did not receive a response. 

The unions also provided financial support to Democratic senators serving on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, according to Federal Election Commission records. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, received $17,000 from the NEA and AFT, while Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, received $14,000, the records show.

Markey reintroduced the Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Bill of Rights, which calls for better wages, benefits and working conditions for paraeducators such as teacher's aides. Markey has also opposed the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, a policy that teacher unions have also strongly opposed. 

Hickenlooper cosponsored the PRO Act, legislation that would strengthen workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain and increase penalties for employers who violate those rights. He has also advocated for increased federal public education funding and higher teacher pay.

AFT also contributed $1.25 million to the Senate Majority Political Action Committee and $1.25 million to House Majority PAC between June 2025 and March 2026, supporting Democratic efforts to protect and expand the party’s majorities in Congress, according to the FEC. 

Union politics differs

Izumi argued that union political spending can also create a disconnect between union leadership and union members who may not share the same political views.

“The average union member who oftentimes doesn't support all of these progressive policies … making them pay for it,” Izumi said.  

He described the unions' political and financial interests as being tied to efforts to increase education spending and protect their members' interests.

“The kids are there basically to provide justification for what is essentially a huge grift by the unions to squeeze more money out of the taxpayers, to increase education budgets, so not only can they have more money for their members, but also to be able to fund their political priorities,” Izumi said.

According to graphs provided by OpenSecrets, teacher unions have contributed significant amounts of funding to Democratic candidates and committees over several decades, with contributions increasing during major election cycles.

Union members pay membership dues via payroll deduction from taxpayer-funded salaries. Many teacher union critics argue that these dues are critical taxpayer dollars.

In 2025, the NEA received almost $400 million in membership dues, and the AFT got over $270 million in dues. 

Since 1990, teacher union contributions have remained significantly higher toward congressional Democratic members than compared to those in the Republican Party, according to this OpenSecrets graph below.  

'More radical agenda'

Rusty Brown, director of special projects at the Freedom Foundation, an organization that advocates against public-sector unions, said the federal government has a more limited role in education policy than state and local governments.

“There's really not much that Congress can do to influence teacher unions other than try to help champion, you know, a more radical agenda, a more leftist agenda than what's being pushed at the current moment,” Brown said.

Despite the federal government's limited role, Brown said unions have an incentive to maintain relationships with members of Congress because federal lawmakers can influence funding and policy priorities.

“So why would a teacher union invest in Congress? Well, it's for their pet projects,” Brown said.

One of the union's projects was supporting sponsors of Colorado House Bill 25-1312, which seeks to protect transgender students from being misgendered. According to Section 2 of the bill, a court may consider “misgendering” as a type of “coercive control” during child custody disputes. 

Brown told The Center Square that this bill effectively equated "misgendering" with parental child abuse. 

All four sponsors of the Colorado bill were Democrats supported and endorsed by the Colorado Education Association teacher union. The sponsors were state Reps. Lorena Garcia and Rebekah Stewart and state Sens. Faith Winter and Chris Kolker. (Winter died Nov. 26 in a multi-car freeway crash.)

The legislation's Section 2 was later removed from the final bill that was signed into law in 2025 after heavy opposition from parental advocacy groups.