The nation’s largest teachers union and its affiliates spent nearly $7.8 million on ballot measure campaigns in three states during 2026, according to a report from Defending Education. The report also describes union strategies for opposing school voucher programs and other conservative-backed measures.
Defending Education said it found an internal National Education Association (NEA) guidance document stating that unions can use unlimited funds from their general treasuries on ballot measures, subject to state laws and agreements with affiliates. The document also urges the NEA to provide “strategic and financial assistance” to defeat measures it opposes.
Erika Sanzi, Defending Education’s senior director of communications and a former teacher and NEA member, said the union has become more politically focused over time. In her view, its attention now extends beyond education to issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, climate change and gender ideology.
“I 100% believe that the union has done a lot of damage and continues to do a lot of damage,” Sanzi said. “I also think that they’ve become much more political and much more ideological than they used to be.”
The report details political spending in Arizona, Washington and Alaska.
On Sept. 30, 2026, the Arizona Education Association gave $75,000 to Will of The People PAC, which opposed Proposition 318, according to Defending Education. Voters approved the measure, which requires schools and athletic associations to base access to private spaces and participation in sports on biological sex.
In Washington, the state NEA affiliate, the Washington Education Association, contributed more than $391,000 to No Hate in WA State, the report said. The group opposed two ballot measures. One sought to restore parents’ rights in public schools; the other, which passed, requires sex verification for participation in women’s sports.
In Alaska, the NEA Advocacy Fund gave $250,000 to No on 2, which opposed a measure to repeal the state’s top-four ranked-choice voting system.
Defending Education also reported that the Protect Education, Accountability Now PAC received $7,075,438.33 from the Arizona Education Association and the NEA during the first two quarters of 2026 for an anti-school-choice campaign. The watchdog said the PAC appeared to be run by the president of an NEA local affiliate, the Kyrene Education Association. Fox News Digital said it could not independently verify whether the organizations shared leadership.
The NEA has argued that voucher programs divert funding from public schools and have racist origins. A February 2026 post on the union’s blog said voucher expansion was re-segregating schools by race and income and reflected a policy rooted in resistance to school integration.
Sanzi said that argument misunderstands what school choice means. “School choice doesn’t mean that the public school won’t be the choice,” she said. “For the majority of families, the local public school is the choice. It just means that they have other options and alternatives as well.”
Defending Education’s report also examines the NEA’s response to state restrictions on payroll deductions for union dues.
In 2025, the NEA released a document called the “AutoPay Playbook,” which Defending Education obtained. The document criticizes payroll deduction bans, arguing they are intended “to force affiliates into all-consuming conversion campaigns that prevent our union from building the power we need to protect public education.”
The playbook describes moving members to AutoPay in advance as “the only way to neutralize this threat and protect our power.” It also warns that quickly advancing state legislation can leave affiliates with “near-impossible timelines” to make the change. According to Defending Education, the program uses recurring electronic transfers to collect dues.
Sanzi said the system could give the union more control than members or school districts. She also raised the possibility that members could become “stuck” in recurring payments that continue even if they forget about them.
Sanzi said parents may confuse support for teachers with support for union leadership. “People feel obligated to be in favor of the teacher’s union because they hear the word teachers, and they want to be supportive of their children’s teachers,” she said. “But the union and the rank-and-file teachers are two very different entities.”
The NEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
