Last week’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention was, effectively, a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris. The labor union formally endorsed Harris last Tuesday, and it spent much of the week heaping praise on her while demonizing school choice and its champions.
The union did not spend the week talking about how to solve the devastating learning loss caused by the school closures it intentionally prolonged. It also did not meaningfully address fixing the chronic absenteeism crisis or the total breakdown of discipline that has led to many of its members being unsafe at work. Neither did Harris, who focused on student debt cancellation, gun control, and repeating a false narrative about Florida’s parental rights law.
If students were doing well, the AFT and Harris would want to shout it from the rooftops. But there is painfully little to brag about for government-run schooling. Four years since the Covid-19 lockdowns, and after $189.5 billion in federal relief funding for K-12 schools, students are still struggling.
The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies exposed several big-city districts that wasted money on things like beach trips and DEI “reparations” while student learning suffered. A new study from the NWEA found that 8th graders are a full academic year behind in reading and math.
The union would rather push extremist politics than try to fix a problem it helped create. For a union that claims to care about #RealSolutions, it doesn’t seem to offer any — besides, of course, voting for Kamala Harris.
President Biden was initially scheduled to speak on the final day of the conference, but Harris appeared in his stead. It was a clever swap, sparing Biden from having to struggle in front of the cameras again and granting Harris stage time in front of a large and friendly audience.
But not all the attendees were happy to see her. Noting that some delegates opposed Harris’ position on Israel, which conflicts with the union’s official position in support of a ceasefire, AFT president Randi Weingarten stood on the main stage and begged audience members not to protest during Harris’ speech.
“This is the first female African American AAPI candidate for the presidency of the United States,” Weingarten said. “I’m asking all of us to use our moral obligation to each other to not protest inside the hall.” She lamented that the media would “zero in on the disagreement.”
Weingarten and Harris both have an incentive to keep each other happy. Teacher union bosses are terrified of a second Donald Trump term, due to his ardent support of school choice and his opposition to the leftist agenda. They want another ally in the White House, and they know a Harris administration would be one.
In return, Harris needs the AFT to mobilize its members and money for her campaign. The AFT shelled out $46.9 million on its political efforts last year, according to Americans for Fair Treatment. The union even held a bus tour to get out the vote for Biden in 2020. That support is invaluable, as are the votes of the AFT’s members, who are now 1.8 million strong.
Early signals show union bosses seamlessly transitioning their support from Biden to Harris. Earlier this month, AFT Massachusetts emailed members to announce it was “going all in to stop Donald Trump and elect Democrats up and down the ballot.” The union solicited volunteers for its get-out-the-vote team, which would make calls and knock on doors in neighboring states for Biden’s reelection.
A union official who confirmed the authenticity of the email also noted that the campaign efforts planned for Biden would now all shift to Harris. The union, just like the Democratic party, is seamlessly swapping one for the other.
The union’s business is politics, and business is booming. Meanwhile, the symbiotic relationship between politicians and union bosses leaves students falling further behind and families demanding a way to opt out of the corrupt system.
Angela Morabito is a former U.S. Department of Education press secretary and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
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