Teachers should opt out of union fees

I encourage all public-school teachers to ditch their government unions this August, during national union opt-out month. Thanks to the SCOTUS decision “Janus v. AFSCME,” teachers are no longer forced to pay fees or be members of their union to keep their jobs or receive their contract benefits.

While common opinion believes a teacher union’s primary purpose is to represent teachers, union financial data reveals the true story. Only 17% of Illinois Educators Association and 26% of Illinois Federation of Teachers expenditures go toward “representational activities,” defined by the Labor Department as “disbursements associated with the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements and administration and enforcement of agreements.”

For perspective, the Better Business Bureau states at least 65% of a nonprofit’s expenses should be on program activities.

Instead of representing teachers, the vast majority of union spending goes to lobbying, political activities and administration, including lavish six-figure salaries for hundreds of union employees, with 30 IEA and IFT leaders making over $200,000.

Meanwhile, the average teacher in Illinois only earns $78,000. Furthermore, unions and their Political Action Committees spend tens of millions of dollars influencing local elections and buying off politicians. Teacher union funding helped pass regressive tax hikes on families and seniors. They lobby against educational scholarships for low-income students, and 85% of their donations to political candidates go to Democrats.

It’s time the IFT and IEA start putting teachers and students first, not union bosses and partisan politics.

Dean Fletcher, Bloomington