America’s two largest teachers unions funneled more than $930 million into political activity and advocacy groups over a ten-year stretch, according to newly surfaced federal labor filings.
Quick Take
- The National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) reported a combined $930.2 million in political spending from fiscal years 2016 through 2025.
- The NEA figure totals at least $547 million, split between $458.9 million in filed political activity and lobbying and $88.2 million sent directly to progressive advocacy groups.
- The AFT reported $383.2 million, with $331.95 million itemized across outside political organizations, internal affiliate accounts, and vendors.
- A separate NEA filing lists specific payments, including $300,000 to the Sixteen Thirty Fund and $500,000 toward a Massachusetts anti-testing ballot campaign.
What The Unearthed Filings Show
The North American Values Institute dug through a decade of federal labor disclosures and found the NEA and AFT together reported more than $930 million in political activity and lobbying spending between 2016 and 2025. Contemporaneous reporting on October 28, 2026 attributed the figures to the watchdog group’s review of union filings submitted to federal regulators.
The NEA’s share breaks into two pieces. One is $458.9 million formally reported as political activity and lobbying. The other is $88.2 million sent straight to progressive advocacy organizations outside the normal lobbying ledger. Combined, that puts the nation’s largest teachers union at roughly $547 million in political-adjacent spending over the decade.
How The AFT’s Numbers Break Down
The AFT reported $383.2 million in political activity and lobbying expenditures across the same ten-year window. A watchdog spokesperson gave Fox News Digital a more granular breakdown: $331.95 million in itemized payments, including $123.35 million to outside political organizations and committees, $179.99 million moved to affiliates and internal accounts, and $28.6 million paid to vendors and consultants.
Fox News described the overall pattern as a political machine funneling close to $1 billion toward liberal causes, pulling together both unions’ totals into one sweeping figure. That framing fits a decade in which teachers unions have become among the most consistent and well-funded players in state and federal elections, often outspending traditional corporate political action committees combined.
Specific Payments Named In NEA Filing
A separate federal filing, a November Form L-2 disclosure covering fiscal year 2024, lists individual payments tied to the NEA. Reporting from January 15, 2026 cites $300,000 sent to the Sixteen Thirty Fund and additional payments to groups connected to the Tides Foundation network.
That same filing names ballot-initiative spending with real dollar figures attached. It shows $500,000 directed toward a Massachusetts campaign opposing standardized testing, another $500,000 for an Ohio anti-gerrymandering amendment, and nearly $500,000 paid to a political consulting firm. These line items turn an abstract total into a concrete list of causes the union actively bankrolled.
📊 86%. That’s how much of the nearly $1 BILLION in political spending by the NEA, AFT, SEIU & AFSCME came straight from member dues — not voluntary PAC donations — per a @MyCommonwealth Foundation report.
via @FoxNews https://t.co/x9Nnwyq9w8
— Americans For Fair Treatment (@AmericansFair) October 27, 2026
Federal labor rules require unions to disclose this kind of spending on a form known as Schedule 16, filed with the Department of Labor. That schedule covers a wide range of activity: direct and indirect election spending, ballot initiatives, lobbying of elected officials, voter registration drives, and payments to political organizations, regardless of whether the lobbying effort succeeds. The breadth of that category is exactly why union political totals can run so high while still falling within normal federal reporting rules.
That same regulatory breadth is why raw totals like $930 million can include categories ranging from direct campaign contributions to internal transfers between a union’s own affiliates. The dollar figures themselves come straight from federal filings, not estimates. What varies is how observers choose to label the spending, whether as political activism, ordinary lobbying, or member representation.
Why The Numbers Matter To Members And Taxpayers
Millions of teachers pay dues to the NEA and AFT, and a portion of those dues flows into the political spending captured in these filings. For parents and taxpayers watching education policy fights over curriculum, testing, and school choice, knowing exactly how much union money backs one side of those debates adds real context to the public debate playing out in statehouses and school board races nationwide.
The filings put hard numbers behind a decade of union political engagement that has shaped state ballot measures, school board races, and federal lobbying priorities. With $930 million now documented across both unions, the scale of that spending stands as one of the largest disclosed political investments by any labor organization in the country.
Sources:
foxnews.com, wfmd.com, roanokenewstalk.com, static.foxnews.com
