Tag Archive for: teachers unions

EXCLUSIVE: Biden Admin Conspired With Teachers Union-Tied Orgs To Shape Far-Left Parents Council, Docs Reveal

Newly released emails reveal how the Biden administration’s Department of Education (ED) in 2022 attempted to form a secret parent advisory council to give teachers unions and left-aligned activist and parent groups power over federal education policy.

Under former President Joe Biden, the department created the National Parents and Families Engagement Council ostensibly as a “partnership between parents and families, educators, district leaders, and entire school communities to support student success.” But behind the scenes, the short-lived council was composed of hand-picked activist organizations that focused on radical racial, gender and immigrant-focused ideologies. As Defending Education notes, “not a single right-of-center or conservative parent group was invited” to participate.

Emails obtained by Defending Education (DE) and shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation detail how ED targeted particular ideologically-aligned groups and invited them to participate in the council and guide its mission.

“The National Parents and Families Engagement Council (the Council) is an opportunity to listen, learn and engage families,” a document sent from ED to prospective council members reads. “The Council seeks to ensure parents’ voices play a critical role in how their children are recovering from the pandemic academically, socially and emotionally.”

Organization leaders were asked to provide feedback on the department’s outline and appoint a parent representative to participate on the council.

Despite this promise to give parents a voice, many of the invited groups were large special interest organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union; Al Sharpton’s National Action Network; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; “LGBTQ+” support network PFLAG and Latino advocacy group Unidos.

In their responses to the invitation, many organizations urged the department to make the program more “inclusive,” and suggested it ensure the council “will consist of geographically and demographically diverse parent representatives.”

“Clearly articulate how the Council membership will provide diverse, representative voices of families: The Department can specify that the Council will be composed of diverse members that will represent geographic and demographic diversity,” the National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement told ED in an email obtained by DE. “Consider diversity of gender (including fatherhood), race/ethnicity, linguistic and immigrant background, political diversity, suburban/urban/rural, military families, foster families, kinship/grandfamilies, and families with disabilities.”

The group also stated the council would “provide a platform” for the ideological groups to distribute their biased resources straight to schools and families.

Other groups shared similar concerns about the council’s diversity.

“We believe it’s critical for the Council’s membership to be diverse, representative of the many experiences of families in education systems, and ensure space for families that are not often at education decision making tables (including Black and Brown parents, immigrants, families whose primary language is not English etc.),” United Parent Leaders Action Network wrote in a response to ED. The group also emphasized the importance of “cultural competence” and “equity, diversity, and inclusion in education.”

The National Parent-Teacher Association asked ED if they would provide “translation/interpretation support” to organization representatives, emails show. Girls Inc., a feminist advocacy group, responded in a separate email suggesting some items the council should be tasked with, such as considering changes to “disciplinary equity,” the use of “police in schools,” and “access for girls and other underrepresented groups to meaningful opportunities to pursue all career paths.”

Another group complained that the term “parents” was not “inclusive” enough, and suggested the documents be amended to include the term “caregiver,” a change which ED appears to have made, according to later documents.

Along with accepting the invitation to join, AFT also recommended other organizations for invitation, including Red Wine and Blue, which purports to “push back against extremism” by teaching anti-racismreading inappropriate books to children, and advocating for abortions. AFT paid that organization more than $1 million between 2015 and 2025, and also directly funded several other participating groups, such as the National Action Network and Unidos.

In a later email, ED clarified that the council is “not a Federal Advisory Committee and therefore, does not have access to information and advice on a broad range of issues affecting federal policies and programs.”

“The Biden Administration weaponized the Department of Justice and FBI to target parents speaking at school board meetings in favor of opening schools and against DEI and transgender policies,” Ian Prior, senior advisor at America First Legal, said in a statement to the DCNF. “In a transparently cynical attempt to manage the fallout, the Administration violated federal law and set up its phony ‘National Parents and Families Council’ stocked with leftist allies to promote a radical, anti-parent agenda. America First Legal is proud to have partnered with other pro-parent organizations to sue the Biden Administration, forcing it to back down and disband its unlawful, astroturf group.”

The council was disbanded less than six months after its launch following legal challenges by DE, America First Legal, and Fight for Schools and Families, with DE calling the council “illegal,” “overtly partisan,” and full of “virtue-signaling.” The lawsuit alleged the administration violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires advisory committees to be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented” and requires a certain degree of transparency.

DE sued again in 2025 to obtain documents relating to the council after the education department allegedly ignored several FOIA requests.

“This public records request – which we received only after suing the federal government following a years-long delay – reveals that the Biden administration hand-picked a set of allies and yes-men to create a Potemkin village to feign that they cared about the opinions of parents and families,” Nicole Neily, president of DE, told the DCNF. “Clearly, this council was nothing more than a smokescreen meant to distract from their NSBA scandal when Attorney General Merrick Garland deployed the FBI against American citizens using their First Amendment rights. The Trump administration’s genuine efforts to engage parents and students stands in stark relief to the Biden administration’s surrender to progressive activists, and we are proud to have played a small part in stopping their radical agenda.”

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Education Reporter

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Here’s How Many Times Dems Sued To Stop Trump Education Agenda In Just One Year

From university funding freezes to attempts to dismantle the Department of Education (ED), schools, teachers unions, and state leaders have attempted to halt the Trump administration’s education agenda at every opportunity.

Since taking office in January, the administration has faced about 70 lawsuits concerning education as of Dec. 22, many still ongoing, according to a review by Education Week. Most of the legal challenges stemmed from grant terminations, attempts to dismantle the department. and anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) directives.

Some of the grants ED sought to end included explicit mentions of prioritizing certain races and genders, such as the mental health grants originally meant to send more health care experts to schools. Yet a lawsuit pioneered by 16 Democrat-led states forced the department to renew the grants at the end of the year despite ED providing an alternative that fulfilled the same purpose without the discrimination.

Grant terminations spurred 11 lawsuits in 2025, according to Education Week.

At least 10 lawsuits were inspired by mass employee layoffs and similar actions ultimately meant to make the Education Department moot. A battle to fire approximately 1,400 staff made its way to the Supreme Court after blue states once again sought to hinder Trump’s agenda.

Harvard’s infamous battle with the Trump administration, which the Ivy League school ultimately won, is just one example of lawsuits generated from cuts and threats to university funding. Five legal battles this year revolved around this issue, and another five stemmed from general education-focused funding freezes.

Attempts to keep men out of women’s private spaces led to five lawsuits. Most notably, President Donald Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills got into a public spat in February during which the governor declined to comply with Trump’s ban on men in women’s sports. The resulting cut to funding was immediately met with a lawsuit.

Teachers unions were not particularly fond of the administration informing student loan borrowers that they are responsible for paying off the debt they took out. After former President Joe Biden took advantage of every loophole to forgive billions in debt, ED was forced to settle with the American Federation, promising to continue processing loan forgiveness under several programs.

Five lawsuits were focused on student loan repayments, Education Week found.

Another four lawsuits were brought on immigration-related issues. The Trump administration in July acquiesced to a challenge from 24 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia to keep $7 billion in federal funding for adult education programs and after-school classes that went in part toward teaching immigrants English.

Administration efforts to deport foreign students studying in the U.S. who engaged in pro-Hamas protests were similarly met with lawsuits.

The majority of the lawsuits were filed near the beginning of the year, with April taking the cake at 18 new filings, and March in second place with 13, according to Education Week.

About 52 cases have already seen their day in court. Lower courts ruled in Trump’s favor 16 times, and against his administration 36 times, according to Education week. Higher courts were more likely to rule in Trump’s favor, siding with the president 24 times and against him 28 times.

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Education Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Union Gives Teachers ‘Interrupting Whiteness’ Classes And More In Radical Left Training Series

Minnesota’s largest teachers union is under fire this week over its “professional development” courses on topis such as “Interrupting Whiteness” and “LGBTQ+ Training.”

The “racial equity trainings” can be brought “to your building” when requested by Education Minnesota members, the union website explains, and offer instruction on topics like “Culturally Responsive Teaching With a Racial Justice Lens” and “Cultural Competency.” Educators in the state are required to fulfill a “cultural competency” training in order to renew their teaching licenses, which can include topics such as “Systemic Racism,” “Gender Identity, Including Transgender Students,” “Language Diversity,” and more, according to the state government page.

The union website features similar content across the board, offering materials on “Anti-immigrant rhetoric & deportation,”  various “anti-racism” resources,  and a “racial and social justice” page claiming “certain politicians” are using police officers against minority students.

“Most of us believe that every child, no matter what they look like or where they come from, deserves a safe and welcoming school where they can thrive,” it says. “But certain politicians try to divide us by sending police to monitor and punish Black and brown students in schools that have been denied funding to even cover the basics, while ensuring well-resourced schools with mostly white students have enrichment activities, teacher training, and parent engagement.”

The website also names “the murder of George Floyd” and “attacks on honesty in education” as hardships the group is fighting against.

Education Minnesota’s programs are part of the “Facing Inequities and Racism in Education” (FIRE) series, designed to “disrupt systemic racism and racial inequities in Minnesota’s education system.” The union operates a “Racial Equity Advocate network” and offers “Equity EdCamps.”

Education Minnesota did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Meanwhile, more than half of 4th-grade students in Minnesota tested below the national proficiency standard in 2024. About 66% of 8th-grade students tested below proficient in math in the same year, and 72% tested below proficient in reading.

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former vice presidential nominee, signed a law in 2024 that funded race-based teacher trainings and aimed to increase the number of “diverse” teachers in schools. In 2023, Walz signed a law requiring schools to offer “ethnic studies” courses, introducing children to racially divisive topics beginning in kindergarten.

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Education Reporter

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Leaked NEA Training Coaches Teachers To Fight Conservative Parents, Paint Republicans As Racist Threat

The National Education Association (NEA) is training teachers to advance gender and racial ideology in classrooms, and to fight Republicans and parent groups who ‘harm us all’ by trying to stop that agenda, according to leaked materials for an upcoming training event.

Participant handouts for the NEA’s “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice and Transgender Advocacy” training accuse the right of using an “arsenal of racist dog whistles” and “transphobic tropes” to “whip up fear” and cause harm, parental advocacy group Defending Education (ED) discovered. The materials coach teachers on how to indoctrinate children into progressive dogmas, including gender ideology and pronoun use, among other woke principles.

The workshop is scheduled for Dec. 2-6 and is meant to dismantle “systems of privilege and oppression as it relates to LGBTQ+ educators and students” and “deepen skills and strategies to confront implicit bias, micro-aggressions and stereotypes.”

“The right has exploited ignorance about transgender people and our lack of an affirmative, race-forward message to advance anti-trans attacks, further splinter and impugn the left, and sabotage progressives on a broad range of issues,” NEA said in the materials. “Over the last ten years, Republicans in state legislatures have increasingly turned to anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation as a powerful complement to their arsenal of racist dog whistles used to whip up fear and consolidate power.”

NEA went on to say Republicans have ignited “a moral panic over transgender youth” and mobilized the GOP base with “a potent mix of racist and transphobic tropes.”

The union also asserted teachers have a “right” to “provide inclusive curriculum.”

The documents include suggested language teachers should use to “activate more expansive attitudes towards our genders and transgender people” and a sample gender “Transition Announcement Email.” NEA recommends members use “genders” instead of “gender” to normalize the idea of endless gender possibilities and says participants should get in the habit of introducing their pronouns to groups and encouraging others to do the same, saying it “shifts people towards our worldview.”

NEA further encourages participants to “Name the villains who violate our values.”

“[C]ertain politicians are pushing laws that restrict our freedoms because of the color of our skin, what’s in our wallets, or because we are transgender,” NEA laments. “They exploit divisions and fears among us so they can get and hold onto power, denying us the basic rights, resources, and respect all people deserve.”

The union also tells people to villainize opponents of men playing in women’s sports by reframing their criticisms and painting them as discrimination against women, rather than advocacy for women.

“Our best-testing way to accomplish this was through a message that positioned supporting transgender women athletes as part of the broader fight for equality in girls’ and women’s sports,” NEA said. “By connecting attacks on trans women athletes to the long legacy of discrimination against all women athletes, this message both shifted our audiences from an individual to a collective mindset and disrupted transphobic conceptions of transgender girls and women as actually male.”

“[I]nstead of striving for equality in sports, certain politicians are distracting us from the real issue by blaming transgender women, instead of helping make sports a better place for all women,” the suggested talking point reads.

NEA did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Education Reporter

RELATED ARTICLE: EXCLUSIVE: School District Deploys New Dog Whistle To Keep Race-Based Hiring

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Congressional Republicans To Unveil Bill Stripping National Education Association’s Federal Charter

Congressional Republicans will unveil a bill Wednesday aimed at revoking the federal charter of the National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the United States, the Daily Caller has learned.

Republicans Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina and Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee will introduce the National Education Association Charter Repeal Act in their respective chambers, aiming to sever the union from its congressional ties, a congressional aide told the Caller. Founded in 1857, the NEA received its charter from Congress in 1906 and now represents over 3 million educators nationwide.

The NEA has a “long list of egregious violations of public trust,” including an Open Secrets report finding that 98 percent of NEA political donations went to Democratic candidates during the 2024 election cycle, Harris said in a statement obtained by the Caller.

More recently, the NEA has faced controversy for passing a resolution that “pledges to defend democracy against Trump’s embrace of fascism by using the term facism [sic] in NEA materials to correctly characterize Donald Trump’s program and actions,” the New York Post reported, citing documents obtained by conservative education expert Corey DeAngelis.

Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, praised Harris’ move in a statement obtained by the Caller. “It’s incredibly sad that the nation‘s largest teachers’ union has put woke politics before America’s children. The NEA’s embrace of radical left policies and antisemitism, combined with their rejection of parental rights, has forced moms and dads across America to condemn this organization,” she said.

The NEA’s operations rely primarily on member dues, not support from the federal government, according to Influence Watch. However, the bill could sever the organization’s congressional ties and eliminate certain property tax exemptions, according to the statement obtained by the Caller.

Similar bills to revoke the NEA’s charter, including one proposed by Blackburn in 2022, have struggled to gain traction, stalling in committee or merely being introduced on the floor.

The Caller has reached out to the NEA for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.

AUTHOR

Derek VanBuskirk

Reporter

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Teachers Will No Longer Need To Pass Basic Reading, Writing And Math Test For Certification In This Blue State

A New Jersey law that removes a requirement for teachers to pass a reading, writing and mathematics test for certification will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

The law, Act 1669, was passed by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy as part of the state’s 2025 budget in June in an effort to address a shortage of teachers in the state, according to the New Jersey Monitor. Individuals seeking an instructional certificate will no longer need to pass a “basic skills” test administered by the state’s Commissioner of Education.

“We need more teachers,” Democratic Sen. Jim Beach, who sponsored the bill, said according to the New Jersey Monitor. “This is the best way to get them.”

New Jersey is especially in need of math and science teachers, according to an annual report from the state’s education department.

Just months earlier, Murphy signed a similar bill into law that created an alternative pathway for teachers to sidestep the testing requirement. A powerful teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, was a driving force behind the bill, calling the testing requirement “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.” Teachers in the state are paid an average of $81,102 annually, according to the National Education Association.

New Jersey followed the example of New York, which scrapped basic literacy requirements for teachers in 2017 in the name of “diversity.”

Other states such as California and Arizona also lower requirements for teacher certification by implementing fast-track options for substitute teachers to become full-time educators and eliminating exam requirements in order to make up for shortages in the field that were worsened by Covid, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

As students struggle to regain learning losses caused by school closures during the pandemic, some states, such as Massachusetts, have opted to lower testing requirements for students in order to allow more to pass rather than make up for the lost education.

Teachers unions continue to hold major bargaining power in some blue states, pushing legislation that protects teachers despite their failure to improve learning outcomes for students. Only about half of New York students in grades three through eight tested as proficient in English and Math in the 2022 to 2023 school year despite the state spending almost twice the national average on education and New York teachers remaining some of the highest-paid in the country, according to the National Education Association.

Murphy’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: How Democrats Lost The Plot On Education

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Unions Quiet As NYC Poised To Fire 7,800 Unvaxxed Teachers

Unions representing the approximately 7,800 teachers who will lose their jobs have been largely silent about mass firings due to New York City’s vaccine mandate.

New York City teachers must get vaccinated by Friday in order to keep working, The New York Times (NYT) reported. While several New York City unions have criticized the rushed implementation of the mandate and expressed concern over the looming issue of understaffed schools, unions have been largely silent on the issue of firing unvaccinated teachers.

The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators in New York City criticized the city for going forward with the mandate before addressing the impending staffing shortage, calling it “dangerous and irresponsible” to allow schools to operate so understaffed.

The president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) similarly called for the city to delay the mandate’s implementation, stating that schools “are not ready for the implementation of the vaccine mandate.”

When asked how the union would support unvaccinated workers, a spokesperson for UFT directed the Daily Caller to its vaccine mandate and exemptions page, which explains that teachers without a vaccine or a valid exemption may choose between termination and unpaid leave.

“Permanent medical exemptions … will only be considered where the individual has a documented allergic reaction such that the member cannot receive any of the three authorized COVID-19 vaccines,” the page states.

The American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and AFL-CIO did not respond to the Daily Caller’s requests for comment.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city has thousands of substitute teachers on standby, the Wall Street Journal reported. Only about one-third of its chapter leaders believe their schools can open without disruption, according to UFT.

The New York City Mayor’s Office announced Monday that 90% of the city’s approximately 78,000 teachers were vaccinated. Teachers who have not received their first shot by midnight Friday will be removed from payroll Monday morning, according to NYT.

COLUMN BY

Laurel Duggan

Education Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This The Daily Caller Column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘OPEN THE SCHOOLS’: President Trump Calls For Defunding Schools That Remain Shuttered

President Donald Trump demanded that Democrats assist him in re-opening public schools on Thursday, saying schools that remain closed should lose government funding.

Trump has pressed for reopening schools for weeks, making several threats to limit or cut funding altogether if children continue to be forced into distance learning. The main opposition to reopening comes from teachers unions, which consistently align with the Democrats.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1304055016731422722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1304055016731422722%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailycaller.com%2F2020%2F09%2F10%2Ftrump-schools-reopen-democrats-funding%2F

Trump first began his push to reopen schools in July, arguing that his Democratic opponents were halting the reopening process for political reasons.

“We have to open our schools. Open our schools. Stop this nonsense,” Trump said Thursday. “It’s only political nonsense. They don’t want to open because they think it will help them on November 3rd. I think it will hurt them on November 3rd.”

Governors across the country ordered schools to close for the final months of the 2019-2020 school year, but states and districts disagree on when classrooms should reopen. The Trump administration released a set of eight recommendations in August for how schools can safely reopen.

The White House recommendations are as follows:

  • Educate teachers and students about the symptoms of COVID-19
  • Require students and teachers to “self-assess” their health each morning
  • Encourage frequent hand washing
  • Minimize large, indoor gatherings
  • Maintain high levels of ventilation in classrooms
  • Require students and teachers to socially distance from “high-risk individuals”
  • Encourage the use of masks
  • Post instructions for hygiene and social distancing around the school

Trump maintains that distanced learning is not an adequate replacement for schooling.

“When you sit at home in a basement looking at a computer, your brain starts to wither away,” Trump said when announcing the recommendations. “We have a lot of good experience at that just by taking a look at what’s happening in politics.”

Trump’s comments echoed those of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which came forward last month to urge state governments to reopen schools in the fall, saying risk of COVID-19 spread among students is low. The group also said dangers of keeping students home and away from learning outweighs the potential risk of spread.

“Lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often results in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation,” the group said according to U.S. News.

COLUMN BY

ANDERS HAGSTROM

White House correspondent.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved