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Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, is “really angry” that President Trump wants to close the US Education Department.
And no wonder: The AFT and its sister union, the National Education Association, have reaped the benefits of the agency’s steady growth since 1980 — so calls to close it directly threaten both unions’ bottom line.
Every increase in Washington’s education spending helps union causes.
For so many problems with the American education system, unions will claim that the trouble is a teacher shortage, then lobby lawmakers for more taxpayer cash as a solution.
Historically, that’s been the pattern ever since the Education Department was established in 1980: Per-student spending consistently increases, school officials hire more staff — and the problems persist.
During lean economic times that disrupt the job market, such as the 2009 financial downturn or the COVID-19 pandemic, unions can decry any potential cuts to education as threats to student success.
Yet no matter how many staffers are hired, achievement gaps remain.
Test scores in math and reading today are at or near historic lows.
Still, unions’ messaging has continually convinced lawmakers to spend more.
When schools closed at the beginning of the pandemic, for example, the unions declared teacher shortages, and federal lawmakers responded with nearly $190 billion in additional school spending.
Many administrators used the cash for pay increases and signing bonuses for teachers who swapped schools.
Now districts have used up that short-term COVID money, and unions are once again declaring shortages — even though public-school student enrollment is down since 2019, and achievement is stagnant.
Many of the new hires aren’t even teachers: The share of school administrators has skyrocketed over the last half-century, with non-instructional staff increasing by some 700%, compared to a 243% increase in classroom instructors.
The Education Department is responsible for implementing federal education law through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and for distributing money appropriated by Congress under that law to schools.
Each section of the law creates a need for more spending and hiring, even when its programs are not successful.
For example, research finds that high-quality educators — teachers who have a record of improving student achievement — can have a significant impact on student success (obviously).
Research does not conclusively explain, however, what creates an effective teacher.
Never mind that: The AFT operates a “Professional Learning Program,” fed in large part by federal dollars. Professional teacher development falls under Title II of ESSA, and the unions’ lobbying of Congress for more spending has paid off — to the tune of $2 billion in 2020 alone.
Meanwhile, research finds that Title II programs are not effective at improving student achievement.
Closing the Education Department will help to end federal grant awards for union-favored projects such as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” teacher training.
Last month, the Trump administration cut $600 million worth of such grants.
In fact, the AFT claims that DEI gives it a reason to go outside of schools to push its political preferences.
The union crows that it “work[s] with public pension funds, state treasurers, policymakers and advocacy organizations” to “integrate racial justice.”
DEI isn’t just a moral crusade for unions; it’s a rallying cry for more taxpayer spending inside and outside education, even as hundreds of surveys find DEI to be ineffective at changing individual attitudes and behavior.
The AFT has also lobbied Congress to increase spending on Title I, federal taxpayer money meant for students in low-income areas, despite evidence that its programs — costing more than $17 billion in the 2021-22 school year alone — do not help kids learn.
President Jimmy Carter created the Education Department as part of an endorsement deal with teachers’ unions more than 40 years ago — and the unions saw dollar signs.
Closing the department will help end the shortage-hire-repeat cycle, thereby cutting off avenues that unions use to lobby for exponential growth in education spending — and the accompanying increases in union budgets.
Over the last four decades, we’ve learned that more money for teachers’ unions doesn’t translate into better student test scores.
It’s time to focus our education efforts on what will truly help America’s kids — not on what will line union leaders’ pockets.
Jonathan Butcher is the Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy.