The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has a very misleading name: it is not just K-12 teachers who comprise AFT members, but members of other AFL-CIO bargaining units, including Planned Parenthood employees, graduate students, and other government employees. Even so, the AFT remains the second-largest teachers union in the country, allowing its leadership to subvert public schools with a progressive agenda that, in reality, has nothing to do with education. This was made clear by its annual conference, held from July 22nd through July 25th.
The day before the AFT convention began, which was the same day that Joe Biden stepped down from seeking reelection, the AFT executive council got together and unanimously endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Later, during the convention, the delegates also voted to endorse Harris for President.
The AFT’s leader, Randi Weingarten, who championed school closures in 2020, additionally released a separate statement on Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, in which she wrote “Now, for those who want to defeat Donald Trump and for those who believe that America is the beacon of democracy, of freedom and of hope that President Biden championed, it’s time to unite.” Her address to members of the AFT was similarly political, whom she exhorted to “vote, but…do more. In this world of ‘alternative facts’ and disinformation, your voice and your activism are essential. You are trusted, you are beloved—because you make a difference in the lives of others. Talk to your co-workers. Talk to your neighbors. Knock on doors. Write postcards. Put out the lawn sign and slap on the bumper sticker.”
The last day of the convention saw a speech from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris thanked Weingarten for her “long-standing friendship,” bragged about how she “led [the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort] to eliminate barriers to organizing in both public and private sectors,” pushed propaganda about non-existent book bans, and spoke about abortion under the guise of “reproductive freedom.”
Most of the AFT’s 2024 resolutions had nothing to do with education, but among the few education-related resolutions passed by the AFT was “Double Down On The Fight Against School Vouchers And Tax Credit Schemes That Defund American Public Education, which commits to “lobbying state governments, and […] support[ing] affiliated unions in opposing school vouchers and voucher-like programs.” The AFT may barely discuss education, but because of its name and membership, it still retains a large influence on the world of education policy and uses whatever credibility it has to reduce school choice for families and keep students in a monopolistic school system where the union’s priorities come before everything else.
Teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic may be difficult, but, done effectively, produces informed, independent citizens; teaching progressive ideology, on the other hand, is easy enough, and reliably produces indoctrinated students who vote as they are told. No wonder the AFT keeps up with its pretense of caring about education: schools are the most effective means of furthering the AFT’s progressive political priorities.