The Chicago Teachers Union has fallen years behind in fulfilling its obligation to provide members with an independent audit of its finances. While keeping the educators it represents in the dark, the union spent roughly $15.8 million supporting left-of-center political campaigns, according to public records. Now it faces a congressional investigation over its financial situation. 

Records show that the Chicago Teachers Union’s most recent publicly available independent audit only covered the union’s finances as of June 2019. The Republican-led House Committee on Education and Workforce, in a Nov. 20 letter, alleged that this “strips dues-paying members of their basic right to understand how their money is spent” and runs afoul of the organization’s bylaws, which require such audits regularly. Since June 2019, the amount of money the union has given to liberal politicians and political action committees, other than its own, has been steadily increasing.