Report: The Two Largest Teachers Unions Put More Than $900 Million Into Political Activity Over a Decade, a Watchdog Says; NEA at $547 Million, AFT at $383 Million
The North American Values Institute analyzed union filings for fiscal 2016 through 2025. It says much of the money went through intermediary political funds. Neither union had responded to Fox at publication.
A watchdog report adds up what the two biggest teachers unions spent on politics, Fox News reports.
The totals. The North American Values Institute (NAVI), a nonprofit that tracks ideological activism in education, says the National Education Association spent at least $547 million on political activity and advocacy from fiscal 2016 through 2025. That includes $458.9 million filed as political activity and lobbying and $88.2 million in direct funding to progressive advocacy groups. The American Federation of Teachers reported $383.2 million in political activity and lobbying over the same years, NAVI says.
Where it went. NAVI says $80.2 million of NEA money went to intermediary political groups, including the State Engagement Fund, the Strategic Victory Fund and State Victory Fund LLC, and that routing money this way makes it harder for dues-paying members to see where it goes. The NEA's own super PAC, the NEA Advocacy Fund, received $116.9 million. NAVI also counts $30.1 million to Education International, a global teachers federation that includes a Palestinian union NAVI describes as affiliated with the PLO. NEA delegates approved a $10 dues increase for a ballot-measure and media fund projected to raise more than $20 million a year.
The AFT. Of $331.95 million in itemized AFT political payments, NAVI says $123.35 million went to outside political organizations and committees, $179.99 million to affiliates and internal accounts and $28.6 million to vendors and consultants. Four national partisan committees received $45.7 million combined. Examples NAVI lists include $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 races.
The curriculum point. A NAVI spokesperson cited a May 2026 NEA webinar in which an NEA official described "movement building," with classroom activities involving strikes, unionization and a comparison of the Constitution with the Black Panther Party's Ten-Point Program.
Note for readers: these are a watchdog's calculations from union filings, and we have not checked the filings ourselves. Unions are allowed to spend member dues on politics within the law, and the report is about size and visibility, not wrongdoing. Neither union had replied to Fox at publication.