The nation’s two largest teachers unions are celebrating the better-than-expected showing by the Democratic Party in last week’s midterm elections, even as several Democratic candidates openly campaigned in favor of school choice.
In the days since the Nov. 8 elections, Becky Pringle and Randi Weingarten, the presidents of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, respectively, have expressed elation on social media at the unexpectedly strong showing by the Democrats across the country.
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The pair lead the nation’s two largest teachers unions and were heavily involved in campaigning and get-out-the-vote efforts for Democratic candidates from Pennsylvania to Michigan to Illinois.
But despite the union leadership’s gloating over their preferred political party’s successes, there appear to be some indications that the organizations have tempered their policy expectations from the political leaders they endorse.
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var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_68549773", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1186193"} }); ","_id":"00000184-7d51-d2c9-a9e6-ff59165f0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedIllinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro both earned the backing of the unions despite the two prominent Democratic candidates offering tacit endorsements of school choice, a policy long opposed by the unions. The NEA’s Pringle even tweeted a congratulations to the triumphant Shapiro following his successful campaign.
https://twitter.com/BeckyPringle/status/1590186196306915329?s=20&t=Hcweoe-C6i0XiCDhry8rig
School choice, which allows public funds to be used for private education, has faced fierce opposition from the teachers unions, which claim the policy is a backdoor attempt to strip funding from public schools.
While his entire campaign website has been overhauled since the election and now only features his thank you to voters, Shapiro had included that he supports “adding choices for parents and educational opportunity for students and funding lifeline scholarships.” Meanwhile, Pritzker backed a small scholarship program for low-income students in Illinois that he had previously opposed.
Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, a prominent school choice advocacy organization, sees the union’s support for pro-school choice Democrats like Shapiro and Pritzker as an indication that the union’s grip on the education space may be loosening.
“The unions know they’re in trouble,” he said. “They’ve overplayed their hand and sparked a parent revolution. There may not have been a red wave or a blue wave in the midterms, but there was a school choice wave.”
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DeAngelis’s organization backed a number of pro-school choice candidates at the state level, of which 76% were victorious. AFC CEO Tommy Schultz in a series of tweets said the group’s preferred candidates won “an estimated 275 out of more than 360 races.”
https://twitter.com/Tommy_USA/status/1590498250708373505?s=20&t=Hcweoe-C6i0XiCDhry8rig
The success of pro-school choice candidates saw no geographic boundaries, with such candidates racking up victories from Nebraska to Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Oklahoma.
“The power-hungry teachers unions know the best they can do at this point is to support the candidate who is currently less of a threat to their monopoly,” DeAngelis said. “But, either way, the recent bipartisan momentum for school choice is a win for parents and a loss for Randi Weingarten and her union allies.”
The unions’ political activity has been heavily scrutinized, with critics accusing the organizations of prioritizing political advocacy over member needs.
In an email to the Washington Examiner, Elisabeth Messenger, the interim CEO of Americans for Fair Treatment, a union watchdog group, noted that the AFT and the NEA had “devoted millions of dollars to political races and PACs this election cycle.”
“Unions are the largest special interest group in the country, and they continue to spend their members’ dues on progressive politics. The NEA spends $2 on politics for every $1 they spend representing their members,” Messenger said. “If you’re curious about AFT’s priorities, just look at Randi Weingarten’s Twitter over the past few weeks—it has been filled with partisan rhetoric. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tweeted hundreds of times in support of progressive candidates or polarized causes completely unrelated to teachers or issues they face.”
The union’s preferred candidates largely mirrored the successes of the Democratic Party and were most successful at the statewide level. In addition to Pritzker in Illinois and Shapiro in Pennsylvania, union-backed Democratic candidates won governorships and Senate seats in the swing states of Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada. Weingarten personally campaigned for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who defeated Republican Tudor Dixon after a campaign season that focused heavily on education issues.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the NEA and the AFT for comment.
