American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten used at least $1.4 million in union resources — that's teachers' dues money — to write and publish her personal manifesto. The book is called "Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy," and if you're wondering whether it's as unhinged as it sounds, yes. Yes it is.
Nothing says "champion of the working educator" quite like raiding the piggy bank of 1.8 million union members so you can play author. Teachers across the country are buying dry-erase markers and printer paper out of their own paychecks, but sure, Randi needed a ghost writer.
The Freedom Foundation analyzed AFT's LM-2 federal financial report covering July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025, and the numbers are staggering. The union shelled out roughly $977,000 to an attorney working on the book project. Another $400,000 went to a ghost writer. Two fact-checkers pulled in $11,000 each. All on the members' dime.
Maxford Nelsen, Director of Research and Government Affairs at the Freedom Foundation, put it plainly: "Most AFT members pay dues in exchange for workplace representation, not to fund the union president's literary pursuits." Hard to argue with that.
[ad_break]
Nelsen also noted that "AFT appears to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in members' dues on top-tier consultants, lawyers, and agents to get WFFT published." He added that "the wide range of expenses borne by AFT suggests that Weingarten may not have contributed anything at all financially to the enterprise." So the union paid for everything and Randi gets her name on the cover. Sweet gig.
And what literary masterpiece did $1.4 million buy? A book where Weingarten compares modern conservatives to actual fascists. In the book she writes: "Those hell-bent on unraveling democracy, pluralism, and opportunity have always attacked teachers and education. It's a very old playbook. In the 1930s, Hitler and Mussolini persecuted teachers and tried to control the curriculum." There it is. You want school choice? You're basically Hitler.
Weingarten, who pulls down $469,442 a year as AFT president — which is already more than any teacher in America makes — dismissed the entire investigation. She called it "this desperate fishing expedition by a far right group that refuses to disclose its donors" and claimed it "only proves my book's point — that Fascists Fear Teachers." When your defense to blowing union money on a vanity project is "you're all fascists," you've already lost the argument.
She also insisted that "educators need people making the public case for them" and that she was "glad to have been in full partnership with the union on this project." Partnership. That's a funny word for spending other people's money on yourself.
The AFT has over 3,000 affiliates and 1.8 million members nationwide, as reported by Breitbart. Those members pay mandatory dues expecting workplace representation. Instead, they got a $1.4 million book deal for their boss — a book that compares half the country to Mussolini.
Teachers deserve better than a union president who treats their dues like a personal slush fund. But hey, at least Randi got her manifesto published. That'll really help Mrs. Johnson in third grade buy construction paper this fall.