Two largest US teachers unions spent over $930 million on politics, watchdog report finds

The two largest teachers unions in the United States, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), spent more than $930 million on political activity and lobbying over the last decade, according to a report by the education watchdog North American Values Institute (NAVI).

According to the report, the NEA spent at least $547 million on political activity and advocacy between fiscal years 2016 and 2025. That total includes $458.9 million filed officially as political activity and lobbying, along with an additional $88.2 million in direct funding to progressive advocacy organizations.

With more than 3 million members, the NEA is the largest teachers union in the country. The report stated that to finance its political activities, NEA delegates approved a $10 dues increase for a ballot-measure and media fund projected to generate more than $20 million annually.

NAVI said the NEA's own super PAC, the NEA Advocacy Fund, received $116.9 million over the decade. Three intermediary political groups — the State Engagement Fund, the Strategic Victory Fund and State Victory Fund LLC — received a combined $80.2 million. The watchdog noted that routing money through these political intermediaries makes it significantly harder for dues-paying union members to track where their money goes.

The report also identified spending on international labor organizations. According to NAVI, $30.1 million went to Education International, a global federation of teachers unions that includes the General Union of Palestinian Teachers, which NAVI describes as an entity affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

A NAVI spokesperson told Fox News Digital that during a May 2026 curriculum-building webinar, NEA national education campaign manager Kyle Serrette described his work as 'movement building.' The event included classroom activities involving strikes, unionization, and comparisons between the Constitution and the Black Panther Party's Ten-Point Program, the spokesperson said. The findings follow earlier scrutiny of an NEA Form LM-2 disclosure obtained by NAVI, which showed millions of dollars directed to progressive advocacy initiatives and political causes.

The American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second-largest teachers union, reported $383.2 million in political activity and lobbying expenditures between fiscal years 2016 and 2025, according to NAVI. Of $331.95 million in itemized political payments, $123.35 million went to outside political organizations and committees, $179.99 million went to affiliates and internal accounts, and $28.6 million went to vendors and consultants, a NAVI spokesperson said. Four national partisan political committees received a combined $45.7 million from the AFT, more than one-third of the union's payments to outside political organizations and committees.

The spokesperson said the AFT spent heavily on political causes unrelated to traditional education bargaining, including $1 million on an Ohio redistricting measure, $1 million on Oregon's Measure 97, $1 million on California's Proposition 15 and $1.125 million across Wisconsin Supreme Court election cycles. The AFT also provided at least $2.08 million in identifiable payments to Education International, the spokesperson added.

NAVI concluded that the political activities of both the AFT and the NEA extended far beyond core education policy into broader campaigns involving elections, redistricting, tax policy, foreign relations and ideological advocacy. Neither the AFT nor the NEA immediately responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment.