Teachers unions have increased their political donations to Democrats since schools shut down, a new report from Roll Call suggests.
Since schooling in the United States was confined to remote learning, the infamous American Federation of Teachers PAC, whose president Randi Weingarten used anti-Semitic rhetoric to further justify keeping schools closed, donated more than $1.6 million to mostly Democrats and left-leaning political action committees.
One million dollars of that total donation went to a super PAC specifically dedicated to bolstering liberal candidates, significantly outpacing the $45,000 the union awarded to committees “in the first three months of 2019, the same point in the two-year election cycle.”
These donations, Weingarten admitted to Roll Call, will encourage the candidates who benefit from the money to cater to the union’s needs and “help Americans thrive: by creating opportunity and equity through public education (from pre-K through college), voting rights and labor rights.”
The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country, also used its PAC to give more than $371,000 to largely Democrat candidates and committees. This is a 38 percent increase from the $269,000 the organization devoted to politicians in 2019.
While Democrats have claimed they are dedicated to reopening schools after more than a year of out-of-classroom learning, it is clear they are benefitting from catering to anti-science and hypocritical teachers unions that want to hold taxpayers hostage. President Joe Biden and his team in the White House were some of the worst offenders who repeatedly ignored scientific data that recommended students immediately return to classrooms. Instead, Biden sided with teachers unions who continue to demand salary increases and benefits even after they are vaccinated.
Despite the unions’ strong support for keeping schools closed until what they deemed was “safe,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky publicly admitted that the agency’s new school reopening guidelines were informed by the opinions of the anti-in-person-learning educators and even some “superintendents, principals, civil-rights groups” who were granted the authority to make “direct changes to the guidance.”
At the beginning of April, the same Democrats who benefit from the unions’ political donations jammed Biden’s $1.9 COVID spending plan through Congress with hope the funds would push schools to reopen. A few weeks later, 58 percent of K-12 districts are still not offering fully in-person classes for all of their students. Biden’s spending plan, which did not receive Republican support, allotted more than $129 billion for elementary, middle, and high schools to use in their reopening efforts, despite the already $100 million unspent dollars designated for “for cleaning and disinfecting” in the CARES Act.
