(The Center Square) – Top teachers union leaders make more than $500,000 a year in pay and benefits, leaving critics to say that taxpayer-funded membership dues allow for the high compensation, an investigation by The Center Square found.
While union staff, who never teach in the classroom, take home big checks, K-12 students nationally are around 30% proficiency for test scores.
Students are not the priority for teacher unions, according to Lance Izumi of the Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute.
“The reason why the kids are there in the first place, to get an education, is secondary for the unions,” Izumi, PRI's senior director of education studies, told The Center Square during an exclusive interview. “So the kids are there basically to provide justification for what is essentially a huge grift by the unions to squeeze more money out of the taxpayers, to increase education budgets, so not only can they have more money for their members, but also to be able to fund their political priorities.”
The Center Square reached out to both the NEA and AFT multiple times for comment but union officials did not respond.
Big pay, benefits
Rebecca Pringle, president of the National Education Association, received $365,708 in salary in 2025, along with $149,047 in benefits and other compensation, for total compensation of $514,755, according to federal filings, according to U.S. Department of Labor LM-2 filings. Since becoming president in 2021, Pringle’s salary has increased by more than $80,000.
In comparison, the average annual salary in the U.S. is approximately $69,846. The amount of money Pringle is receiving in just in “benefits and other compensation” alone is more than two times that average. Her total compensation is more than seven times the national average salary and nearly seven times the average teacher's salary.
NEA Vice President Princess Moss received total compensation of $416,514, union records filed with the Department of Labor show.
At the American Federation of Teachers, President Rhonda Weingarten received $514,488 in salary, benefits and other compensation, while Vice President Evelyn DeJesus received $343,581, according to union filings.
In comparison, the national average salary for a public school teacher is $74,000, according to the NEA.
Depending on the state and school district, a good portion of local budgets is allocated to teacher pay and benefits. For example, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest school district, allocated 93% of its budget to employee salaries, with 40% of the budget going to teacher pay and benefits.
Nationally, public K-12 schools spent almost $1 trillion in 2024, while the average per-pupil spending nears $18,000.
Taxpayer-funded dues
Union members pay membership dues via payroll deduction from taxpayer-funded salaries. Many teacher union critics argue that these dues are taxpayer dollars.
As of 2025, the NEA has 2,846,104 members. The amount of union dues paid by each member is around $159.66, which contributes to approximately $454 million in total receipts during the fiscal year. Of that amount, almost $391 million comes from membership dues, with the rest coming from investments, loans, etc., according to Union Facts, a nonprofit that focuses on transparency and accountability.
AFT has 1,828,112 members, with each member's union dues around $149.80, totaling approximately $274 million in receipts during the fiscal year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor LM-2 filings. (According to the department, LM-2 filings are annual financial reports from labor organizations with $250,000 or more in receipts.)
Test scores raise questions about what taxpayers are getting back for their money and why the unionized teachers are not doing a better job educating students. On a national level, K-12 students remain 30% proficient for test scores, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
The organization's data released in 2024 show that the average reading score for 12th-grade students fell three points since 2019. Average math scores for 12th graders have also declined by three points since 2019.
The Center Square previously reported that education analysts believe America has an education spending problem and that the funding that is allocated does not go to areas within the public education system that push for higher accountability and rigorous academic competition.
According to Union Facts, the NEA spent around 10% of its budget on legal representation, which is a direct cost of negotiating contracts and defending members' rights in the workplace. Annually, the cost is $45 million and, compared to its three million members, is around $15 per member per year.
The NEA spent more than $51 million on political activities and lobbying in 2025, and the AFT spent more than $41 million, according to Union Facts.
Cliff Smith, government affairs director for the North American Values Institute, said teacher unions undermine public trust when they move beyond their traditional areas of expertise.
“We have a nationwide crisis of too many institutions not staying in ‘their lane,' ” Smith told The Center Square. “It's perfectly appropriate for unions to have opinions on issues closely related to education, but when a union, or any other entity, steps wildly outside its area of expertise, not only does it promote ideas that it shouldn't, but it creates distrust when they speak out on issues they truly are experts on.”
He added that increased political polarization could ultimately affect both educators and students.
“It's a downward spiral of polarization,” Smith said. “This might help certain members of union leadership and politicians they support, but it hurts both students and everyday teachers who are much more interested in actually teaching than political indoctrination.”
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