Swansenreport

The Chart Wisconsin Democrats Don’t Want You to See: NEA Spends 10 Cents on Teachers for Every Dollar on Politics

As Wisconsin Democrats push to overturn Act 10 — the 2011 Scott Walker law that curtailed public employee union power — a new analysis of federal labor filings reveals exactly what teachers union dues actually buy: a massive political operation that spends nearly four times more electing Democrats than representing the teachers who pay for it.

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, spent just 10 percent of its total budget on representing teachers in 2025, according to its own filing with the U.S. Department of Labor. The union spent nearly four times that amount — 39 percent of its $220 million budget — on political activities, lobbying, and contributions to outside organizations. WisPolitics

NEA President Rebecca Pringle pulled in more than $514,000 in 2025 — a seven percent raise from the prior year — while the average teacher salary in Illinois, where most NEA-represented teachers work, remains below $79,000. At least 481 NEA officers and employees made over $100,000, and 110 made over $200,000. The union spent more than $91 million on its own officer and employee salaries — 18 percent more than the year before. WisPolitics

A separate analysis by Defending Education tracked NEA and AFT contributions through FEC filings and found the two national teachers unions and their PACs gave a combined $85 million or more to federal, state, and local Democratic Party entities and their PACs. The money flows through a network of PACs and nonprofits that make it difficult to trace exactly which campaigns and ballot initiatives benefit — but the direction of travel is consistent and documented. FOX6 News Milwaukee

The Wisconsin connection is direct. Act 10 eliminated most collective bargaining rights for public employees and — critically — ended the automatic payroll deduction of union dues. Without mandatory dues collection, Wisconsin teachers have to affirmatively choose to pay. Enrollment in the Wisconsin Education Association Council dropped dramatically after Act 10 passed. Overturning it would restore the automatic dues pipeline — and the political spending that flows from it.

The DOL filing is a public document. The chart circulating in Wisconsin political circles this week — showing NEA’s spending breakdown from 2016 to 2025 — is sourced directly from those filings. The numbers are not in dispute. The question Wisconsin voters face heading into the governor’s race is whether restoring that pipeline — with a candidate who has pledged to fight for it — is what they want their next governor doing on day one.

Sources: Illinois Policy Institute — DOL LM-2 Analysis | Defending Education — Union Spending Tracker | DOL LM-2 Filing — NEA File 000-342