Teachers are leaving their unions over overt political pushes. As teachers unions promote the left’s agenda, we must pray.

From The Epoch Times. Imagine part of your paycheck is removed each month and sent to a rich, powerful nonprofit that advances culture-changing causes in conflict with your values, such as anti-gun legislation, promoting racism, and teaching children to how to alter their gender.

View Comments (9)

Get involved in state level prayer with IFA.

That is the reality for many teachers union members.

Some Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) members were troubled in 2021 when the union presented a 10-hour workshop, “Nice White Parents: A Look at How Parent Groups Have Systemically Impacted the Education System.”

A workshop flyer promised to discuss the “key driver blocking educational integration and equity: the actions of white families.”

PSEA is a 178,000-member union for Pennsylvania educators, administrators, higher education professionals, and pupil services professionals. It is affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), which is the largest labor union in the United States, showing 2.9 million members in 2021. NEA membership has declined about 5 percent since 2017 when it had 3 million members.

NEA Union Dues at Work

Most of the NEA’s revenue is from member dues. The union’s 990 tax exempt form for 2019, the most recent available, shows it received $375 million in membership dues and $6.5 million from investment income. Including other listed income streams such as advertising and rental income, the NEA’s total 2019 revenue was $389 million.

The NEA’s 2021 Form LM-2 Labor Organization Annual Report shows the union with $443 million in total assets. …

The NEA spent $66 million dollars on political activities and lobbying in 2021 compared to $32 million dollars spent on representation activities for members.

Out of Teachers’ Pockets

School districts remove union dues from each member’s pay and send it to the local union, where it is split. A large percentage is sent to the regional and national arms of the union. Dues vary but are roughly $1,000 a year. …

NEA Political Agenda

After its July Representative Assembly, the NEA published a list revealing the union’s agenda, including proposed amendments to its constitution, bylaws, and about 85 new rules awaiting debate by its membership. The Epoch Times asked the NEA which rules have been adopted since then. The NEA did not respond.

“Only NEA delegates are allowed to see what was approved, so they are hiding it from the general public,” Majewski said, adding that the public pays taxes for teachers salaries and funds the money given to the union which influences what children are taught.

The following are some of the proposed rules:

• NEA will inform states and local unions of what it calls “LGBTQIA+ inclusive language” that may appear in contracts, including “parental leave” instead of “maternity leave,” “parent” instead of “mother or father,” “birthing parent” instead of “mother,” and “non-birthing parent” instead of “father.”
• NEA will ensure recruitment of diverse school board candidates, including “queer and people of color,” in “the wake of right-wing attacks on diversity, inclusion, and equity reform.”
• “NEA shall acknowledge the existence in our country of institutional homophobia and transphobia.”
• NEA “will encourage members and others to wear orange every Tuesday during September and October to show support for common-sense gun safety laws.” …
• “NEA will publicly stand in defense of abortion and reproductive rights and encourage members to participate in activities including rallies and demonstrations, lobbying and political campaigns, educational events, and other actions to support the right to abortion, contraception, and a person’s decision about their health.” …
• NEA will issue a press release calling on the Biden administration to increase the number of Supreme Court justices.
• NEA will work toward a national policy of mandatory masking and COVID-19 vaccines in schools.
• “NEA will demonstrate its support for the right to asylum for migrants from Venezuela and Central America now arriving at the U.S. southern border.”
• “NEA will educate members and the public about the history, culture, and struggles of Palestinians, including the detention, abuse, and displacement of children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the publication said. Sources should include, but not be limited to, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’Tselem–Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.” …

Easy to Join, Tough to Leave

Union membership was mandatory for many public school employees until the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. …

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that it was unconstitutional under the First Amendment to compel public employees to subsidize union advocacy and political speech that the employees disagreed with. …

But there is pressure to stay in the union, and some employees believe they can’t leave. …

Many employees sign onto the union believing it is required. “The rule of thumb is that unions are trying to make it as difficult as possible for people to resign,” [Max Nelsen, director of labor policy at Freedom Foundation] said.

COVID Policies Ended Union Loyalty

Carolyn Powers, an educator at a school district in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, said the NEA is overtly political.

“I was getting very upset with how political it was. They were putting things in our mailbox telling us who to vote for and I just didn’t feel that politics and school should ever be meshed,” Powers told The Epoch Times. “I taught fifth grade for most of my career and the kids in my class never knew my political affiliation, because my job as a teacher is to teach them how to think, not what to think.” …

Allison Crognale, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Spanish teacher and student council adviser, left the NEA and also joined KEYTA.

During the COVID-19 shutdown, Crognale became disenchanted with the NEA and PSEA when she saw the union pushing mandatory vaccine mandates for teachers. And there was also the politics.

“No matter how many times I spoke to my building representatives, they told me that they did not give any money to politics in any way shape or form,” Crognale told The Epoch Times. “Yet, constant, beautiful flyers were being sent to my house, endorsing candidates that go against everything in my being.” …

“It was all politics, politics, politics. And then it became all masking and vaccines, and I just thought, I’m paying these people a lot of money and they don’t represent me,” Crognale said. …

“I know a lot of people in my district alone, let alone other districts, are leaving or considering leaving because of the political affiliation,” Powers said. “And it’s not because of Republicans or Democrats. It’s because they don’t think politics and education should be interwoven together.”

How are you praying against the politicization of teachers unions? Share this article to keep people informed.

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Canva)