Staff Reports
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, is under fire after a conservative group dug into the union’s federal filings and says union dues helped pay for her 2025 book. The Freedom Foundation’s analysis of the AFT’s LM‑2 report alleges more than $1.4 million in payments tied to Why Fascists Fear Teachers — and it says some royalties were routed to a shadowy Delaware LLC rather than to the charities Weingarten promised. The union calls the report a smear. Members deserve better than smoke and mirrors.
What the filings appear to show
The Freedom Foundation points to the AFT’s LM‑2 disclosure as the smoking gun. Their read of the public filing lists roughly $1.4 million in disbursements they link to the book project. Big line items include about $400,000 paid to commentator and consultant Sally Kohn and roughly $977,000 to the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Smaller payments show up for a fact‑checker, a photographer, and the literary agent. The publisher even calls the book “a manifesto for our time,” which makes the scale of spending look less like a staffing cost and more like a vanity tour paid for with dues.
Where the royalties supposedly went
Reporting says the publisher’s advance was routed through AFT bookkeeping at roughly $375,000. According to the Freedom Foundation’s read, the two charities Weingarten named got about $125,000 combined. Another $125,000 went to a newly formed Delaware LLC called Teachers Want What Kids Need — an entity with no public profile beyond receiving the cash. The rest, the analysis alleges, stayed with the union or was used elsewhere. The AFT pushes back hard, calling the analysis a “fact‑free fishing expedition” and insisting proceeds are shared. That answer, however, leaves more questions than it answers.
Why rank‑and‑file members should care
Most teachers pay union dues for representation, bargaining, and classroom support — not to bankroll a boss’s last chapter. The Freedom Foundation put it plainly: members expect their money for workplace needs, not for a union president’s publishing campaign. When six‑figure checks show up in filings with vague descriptions, it’s fair to ask whether transparency and basic fiduciary duty were observed. If you’re a teacher seeing your paycheck stretched thin, this looks like a very bad deal.
The missing answers and what to demand
So far we have an allegation, an LM‑2 filing, and a defensive press release. That’s not a full accounting. The AFT should publish the exact ledger entries showing why those law‑firm and consultant fees were necessary. The publisher or agent should confirm who received advances and under what contract terms. And Delaware corporate records should name who runs the LLC that accepted royalties. Few things settle controversy like clear receipts and public records.
Union leaders like Randi Weingarten claim they’re fighting for teachers. Fine. That fight starts with honesty. If dues were used to pay for a literary project, members deserve a full, line‑by‑line explanation — not a shrug and a slogan. Until the AFT opens its books, the smell of insider enrichment will stick to this “manifesto” like coffee on a campaign pamphlet. Transparency isn’t a political weapon; it’s the minimum standard of trust. Teachers deserve it, and so does the public.
