UNION PRESIDENTS GO OFF THE RAILS AT LOSS OF Department of Education Money Pot
It's become fairly common these days that the American Federation of Teachers head, Randi Weingarten, can be found somewhere going off in an epic rant. These epic rants are filled with rage that seem to indicate some kind of supernatural possession or mental health problem:
Where the heck was she looking? Was she searching for drones overhead?
If you can take it, here is more of Randi:
Not to be outdone, Becky Pringle, President of the National Education Association, also has her moments:
You have to love the take on this by the Aussie newscasters who reported on it. Becky seems unhinged, doesn't she? It's so bad it warrants international ridicule.
But NOW with their beloved Department of Education possibly going away, Weingarten in particular is losing it. Completely.
What is interesting about Weingarten's statement is that it is contradictory. She talks about opportunity for kids while ignoring the fact that test scores are lower than ever and kids are NOT learning. She talks about scholarships for students when many students cannot read or do basic math. She says states can control education but then is furious that the DOE will be dismantled, sending education matters to those states. Huh? Which is it Randi?
She also says that "no one cares" about the Department of Education but she is REALLY angry that it is being dismantled. I'm not sure Randi has a clue what she is saying. One thing is clear, she thinks only millionaires and billionaires' kids can succeed in this country because the other 90% of kids go to public schools.
Is she promoting private schools by pointing out that public schools are failing? Sure sounds like it.
Here's what NEA President Becky Pringle said:
“If it became a reality,” Pringle said, “Trump’s power grab would steal resources for our most vulnerable students, explode class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.”
Except, Becky, the Department of Education has very little to nothing to do with any of those. Has she seen the billions of dollars in endowments that universities have? They could finance student scholarships on their own. But, they would rather have fancy office buildings and football stadiums.
Doesn't she realize that special education services are mandated by law and any federal funding for them can go directly to states? Guess not.
An explanation from the Heritage Foundation:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15n2T8f4G2/?mibextid=wwXIfr (Show this to your friends when they freak out because of liberal propaganda about what dismantling the DOE will mean to education.)
So, why are Randi and Becky so worked up about the dismantling of the Department of Education?
First, we need to know some basic facts about the two largest teachers' unions in this country and the Department of Education.
First, the Department of Education, which costs the American taxpayer approximately $268 BILLION dollars a year. From USA facts:
The Department of Education spent $268 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2024. This was 4.0% of the $6.8 trillion in overall federal spending. The department ranked sixth among federal agencies in total spending.
If you wish to use the interactive graphic, go to the link and scroll down.
Here's another view of DOE spending:
It's clear that there is spending in this budget that needs to be eliminated and even more that needs to go directly to states.
Somewhere in that huge budget, both AFT and NEA have a piece of the pie. The unions themselves claim that they get funding from the DOE to help with teacher recruitment and training. They also undoubtedly get funding for other programs. After all, the teachers unions are BIG PLAYERS in the political landscape.
Here are some of the basic facts about the two unions:
The American Federation of Teachers has a yearly income of $206 million.
The National Education Association makes $208 million dollars a year.
AFT President Randi Weingarten makes $560,000 a year.
NEA President Becky Pringle makes $449,305 a year.
AFT has 272 employees who make over $200,000 a year. NEA has 42 employees who make over $200,000 a year. Most of the employees in both unions make over $100,000 a year.
Seven (7) cents of every dollar brought into the unions go to representing teachers. Most of the rest goes to political donations and “gifts” and "contributions.” Nationally, both unions donate and support Democrats with money and endorsements. Here is the breakdown for both. AFT is the top:
This is political spending for NEA:
Here are a breakdown of some of the political spending by NEA:
Any familiar names there? Of course there are.
Here's more info about how much of teachers' dues are spent representing them:
If you are a teacher who is a member of either union, you should be very angry, particularly when the average salary for teachers in the United States is approximately $70,000 a year and you are spending a portion of your salary supporting the union with dues that go to huge administrative salaries.
These two unions depend on the Department of Education to fund them so they can then turn around and give that money to Democrat candidates and officials. Some of the $611 million dollars the unions would have gotten for "teacher training" money was just pulled back by the new Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon. This makes Randi and Becky very, very angry.
What kind of training, you ask? The kind that you see promoted on the NEA website:
Safety, Bias, & LGTBQ+ Issues | NEA - This is a training module so teachers can be indoctrinated into gender ideology and then indoctrinate their students with it. You know what kind of training you will NOT find on this site? You won't find meaningful training about teaching reading, math, writing, etc.
You will find some teacher training modules on the AFT website. Neither union of has enough teacher training material to warrant any money from the Federal Government.
The bottom line is that the Unions have had the Department of Education to do their bidding for a very long time. And now that both unions are losing membership AND DOE money, the gravy train is coming to an end. AFT has lost over 10,000 members from 2020 to 2023*. NEA has lost approximately 18,000 since 2022 and 51,987 since 2021. Loss of members means loss of membership dues. Accordingly, both unions raised their union dues. Here is a great article about the Unions and DOE from the NY Post:
* AFT has expanded their clients to health care and public service personnel as well as teachers.
Union Facts ( NEA)
Union Facts ( AFT)
Although both unions show pretty pictures of children on their sites, it's clear children and their education are not their priority.
The bottom line here is that both Randi and Becky see their gravy train coming to an end and they don't like it. They will go to any extreme to stop that.
Yep. Randi and Becky are "way" mad.
SIDE NOTE: With many of the state suffering teacher shortage, maybe some of the DOE could go into school systems and actually TEACH.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES:
Here is a link to another "AFT," Americans for Fair Treatment: Homepage - Americans for Fair Treatment
Jan Greenhawk, Author
March 14, 2025
Jan Greenhawk is a former teacher and school administrator for over thirty years. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in Maryland. She also spent over twenty-five years coaching/judging gymnastics and coaching women’s softball.
This article was originally featured on the Easton Gazette.
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