Another year, another billion dollars funneled from teachers’ pockets to left-wing causes

In 2024, the four largest public-sector unions in America spent an astonishing amount — nearly a billion dollars — on elections and progressive political activism, according to a new study from the Commonwealth Foundation. Even more alarming, an overwhelming majority of that money came directly from member dues. Funds that many teachers and public employees believe are being used for their interests are instead funneled into political campaigns and left-wing causes.

This national picture connects directly to the battles unfolding in Louisiana’s education system. The fights over new accountability standards and the pushback against ESAs are not isolated or organic. They reflect the same pattern: entrenched public-sector interests working to protect their power, even as student performance has plenty of room for improvement.

In one striking example, teachers from Calcasieu Parish left their classrooms during a regular school day to take what was described as a “field trip” to Baton Rouge — not for student advocacy, not for professional development, but to protest a new accountability framework designed to raise expectations and align school ratings with actual student outcomes.

Rather than acknowledging the need for higher standards and transparency, union-aligned activists mobilized employees to resist the changes. The motive becomes clear: higher expectations expose underperformance, underperformance prompts reform, and reform threatens the bureaucracy that unions rely on for dues, influence, and leverage. Maintaining a system where failing schools still earn high grades is far more convenient for those invested in preserving the status quo.

This dynamic was further illustrated in investigative reporting that described education officials and union insiders as fighting both state leadership and parents “to protect their fiefdoms.” That language is fitting. When public-sector unions can take hundreds of millions in dues and convert them into political warfare — while local leaders resist even the most basic accountability measures — education becomes less about children and more about power.

The question practically asks itself: Who benefits when unions spend extraordinary sums on political causes while local educators are encouraged to protest accountability rather than focus on student success?

At a time when parents are demanding honest reporting, better outcomes, and meaningful accountability, the alliance between national union politics and local resistance to reform should concern every voter. When vast sums of mandatory dues fuel political campaigns, and when local education officials fight against transparency, it becomes clear that the priority is not student achievement.

Until spending is made transparent and school ratings reflect real performance, Louisiana’s children will continue to bear the cost of a system designed not to educate them, but to protect the institutions built around them.