A friend of mine, Erik Lidström, is working to convince me that the ideal level of government funding for schools is zero dollars and zero cents.
He's made a darn good case for it in his book Education Unchained, in fact. I will review his book after I have finished reading and digesting his case, but even before I finish it, I can say that it would be very hard to get from here to there in the foreseeable future. Americans' attachment to public education as a concept runs very deep, and one of the first major pieces of legislation anybody can name is the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, which explicitly set aside parcels of land to help fund schools.
Despite the manifest failures of American public schools to teach kids even the basics, it's remarkable how durable Americans' attitudes are. It's ingrained in our national DNA, and any time you can attach some issue, even tangentially, to improving public schools, you are almost guaranteed support.
BREAKING: Randi Weingarten's union passed a resolution calling for "housing set-asides for union members."
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 21, 2026
They want "housing developments designed specifically for public sector workers."
The teachers union wants reserved housing and special mortgage programs. pic.twitter.com/7G5Wp9IqOi
Approval of public schools far too often translates into warm-and-fuzzy feelings about teachers and teachers' unions. Here in Minnesota, Education Minnesota is one of the big players in elections, and I don't just mean in funding Democrats and providing ground troops.
BREAKING: Randi Weingarten's union just PASSED a resolution to "mobilize for the 2026 elections."
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 19, 2026
The resolution says the 2026 elections are a "which side are you on" moment.
Randi Weingarten’s teachers union convention was a radical left political rally. pic.twitter.com/nTzaWVtPeE
They are big spenders on advertising, both in shaping the issue landscape and endorsing candidates. People remember their favorite teachers and have nostalgia for their schools, and that translates to political power.
Campaign contributions from the American Federation of Teachers to Democrats:
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 20, 2026
1996: 99.1%
1998: 98.9%
2000: 99.2%
2002: 99.3%
2004: 98.0%
2006: 99.1%
2008: 99.1%
2010: 99.4%
2012: 99.4%
2014: 99.0%
2016: 99.7%
2018: 99.8%
2020: 99.6%
2022: 99.97%
2024: 99.89%
Money laundering.
The thing is, the teachers' unions are radical, sometimes communist organizations. Both the leaders of the AFT and the NEA have been members of the highest levels of the DNC for years, until both resigned because the DNC was not RADICAL ENOUGH.
Teacher Unions don’t just have PAC’s. They are PAC’s. These unions aren’t subversive about their real purpose, it’s just that the mainstream media and Democrats won’t tell the truth. https://t.co/uXn5pGwJ4I
— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) July 20, 2026
Over the past few years, the unions have transformed from Democratic Party political machines into truly radical organizations that are working hard to pressure the Democrats to move ever-farther left on every issue, economic or social, and they have been doing a darn good job of it too.
Foreign communist $ is laundered through pleasantly-named NGOs to bankroll redshirt here at AFT to turn our schools into indoctrination camps & convert your children into commie street animals. This is a deliberate foreign subversion & why you don't recognize your kids anymore. https://t.co/S4W0EFzPWr
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) July 20, 2026
The unions have been key in spreading gender ideology in schools and in pushing the Democratic Party as a whole to embrace the sterilization and mutilation of kids. They promote maximalist positions on every social issue from abortion to ICE hatred, and hold the Democrats' feet to the fire in a way that few organizations can, because they have both the money and the manpower to help or hurt Democrats as they so choose.
BREAKING: Randi Weingarten's union just PASSED a resolution supporting "gender-affirming care," which includes sex-change surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers. pic.twitter.com/MSGHH1RMAf
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 19, 2026
All of this is directly funded by public dollars, and many teacher contracts include provisions that allow political organizing using school resources. I once worked for a teacher who was running for Senate as a Republican, and he regularly got emails and flyers from the union about how evil he was and how every teacher should vote against him—on his school email and in his school mailbox.
The president of the National Education Association admits they closed schools during COVID and extracted taxpayer money.
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 5, 2026
"You demanded safety. You secured the largest public education investment in U.S. history. That's what you did, NEA."
Despicable. Hostage-takers. pic.twitter.com/4uxOlj6DQL
It was perfectly legal, because their contracts allowed it.
All public employee unions should be banned. FDR rightly argued that they amounted to government employees organizing against the public itself, and it's obvious that they can subvert the rules we all must live by because they work for the government itself.
The NEA and AFT have funneled over $669 million to political groups, advocacy orgs, and campaigns since 2015.
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) April 27, 2026
That includes tens of millions to PACs, progressive nonprofits, and partisan efforts far removed from the classroom.https://t.co/AplsgUrQVC
But it goes deeper than that: they are doing so using taxpayer dollars, which flow into their coffers at an astonishing rate.
Eliminating teachers' unions won't fix public education, but it would be a great start.
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