
“Educators across the country are ready and working hard to re-elect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle proclaimed in a press release announcing last week’s Educators for Biden-Harris coalition launch. After the event, she tweeted, “I joined @DrBiden & my @EducationMN colleagues tonight to say loud & clear: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are here for educators & we’re here for them.”
According to Americans for Fair Treatment, the NEA reported spending $50.1 million on political activities and lobbying during the last fiscal year, although the total is likely much higher after factoring in political spending that the union identifies as “contributions, gifts, and grants.” Becky Pringle “could not be more ready for November” as she prepares to direct the nation’s largest teachers union’s campaign war chest “to re-elect President @JoeBiden!”
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten also participated in the Educators for Biden event. “@JoeBiden is the most pro-union, pro-worker president in our lifetimes,” Weingarten tweeted. “The room was filled with hope,” she emailed AFT members after the event. Last fiscal year, the AFT spent $46.9 million on political activities, as well as an additional $7.2 million on “contributions, gifts, and grants.”
In addition to tweets and financial contributions, the unions plan to work with the Biden campaign to:
- Mobilize their 5 million members (combined NEA and AFT), as well as other teachers, school staff, and parents to vote for Biden;
- Support digital and on-the-ground organizing efforts;
- Organize door-to-door canvassing, phone and text banks, and back-to-school events; and
- Create “robust digital resources” including a Biden-Harris Public Education Quiz and a candidate comparison tool in English and Spanish.
To learn more about how teachers unions invest in political and ideological activities, read “Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union Invests Half A Million To Train Educators In Gender Ideology” and “NEA Pays Lavish Salaries To Headquarters Officials, Spends Only 5.4 Percent Of Its Revenue Representing Teachers.”
For more information about teachers unions, check out the IWF Education Freedom Center’s Teachers Union Resource Center.