FOLLOW THE MONEY: WHICH LEGISLATORS BENEFIT MOST FROM OUR UNIONS? – PART I (David Ginsberg)

Every two weeks, union dues and voluntary COPE donations come out of the paychecks of more than 100,000 active UFT members. Millions upon millions of dollars of our hard earned money go to maintaining, strengthening, and empowering our union each year. In fact, the UFT  “does not use any union dues money for political action,” and while a sizable portion of our dues (over 25%, according to Americans for Fair Treatment) goes to affiliates such as New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT), where the distinction between regular union activity and political activity may seem less clear cut, voluntary COPE contributions are the primary source of direct payments from our union organizations to politicians and political groups. Hopefully, the breakdown below of the 10 largest recipients of our various union funds alleviates some of the mystery as to who benefited most from our contributions from 2022 and 2023. This article is not meant to be an exposé by any means; it is simply meant to help our membership see where our money is going because we deserve to know. We are in no way encouraging members to cancel their union dues and/or COPE donations. Our union needs our support in order to thrive.

It should be noted that some of the dollar amounts may not be exact. These are all minimum figures. All research was done through https://publicreporting.elections.ny.gov. Each union donates money under several names (ex: NYSUT may be listed as New York State United Teachers, NYS United Teachers, NYSUT, etc.), making it extremely difficult to pin down exactly how much they donated. 

It should also be noted that NYSUT (600,000 members) and the AFT (1.7 million members) receive contributions from other teachers’ unions, so all money donated by them does not necessarily come directly from our pockets. However, it is safe to assume that some of it does. All that being said, we hope this article helps you gain some insight as to where our lobbying contributions go. Again, all dollar amounts are for 2022 and 2023, combined.

1. Progress NYS: $750,000

Contributions: 2022 NYSUT: $250,000  2022 New York State United Teachers: $500,000

Progress NYS is a Super PAC with ties to NYSUT that has been receiving a large chunk of money from teachers’ unions for a while. According to this article by Rebecca C. Lewis from 2020, over $1 million was given over from NYSUT and its “political fundraising arm, VOTE-COPE,” to help fund the campaigns of Peter Harckham, Martinez (likely Monica), Jen Metzger (lost her re-election bid to Mike Martucci), and state Senator John Mannion, who receives quite a bit of money from teachers’ unions, as you will see in a future article.

More recently, in 2022, another $1 million was given to Progress NYS through our affiliates, NYSUT and the AFT, according to this article by Erin Durkin from Politico. Durkin points out that the $1 million was used to help Kathy Hochul defeat Lee Zeldin in the 2022 gubernatorial race. Overall, the Progress NYS Super PAC essentially helps senate democrats (mostly) in their pursuit of public office.

2a. NYS Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (NYSDSCC): $255,900

Contributions: 2022 NYSUT: $117,300  2023 NYSUT: $113,600  2023 Voice of Teachers for Education (an arm of NYSUT you can learn more about here): $25,000

The NYSDSCC is led by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and is comprised of 42 New York State Senate Democrats, the vast majority of whom have received direct donations in the thousands of dollars from the UFT, NYSUT, and/or AFT over the course of 2022-2023. You can check out the entire list on their website (NYSDSCC members).  The most notable names who have received significant sums of money are Toby Ann Stavisky, John Mannion, Robert Jackson, Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, Iwen Chu, Jessica Ramos, John Liu, Gustavo Rivera, Lea Webb, Cordell Cleare, Kristen Gonzalez, James Skoufis, Brian Kavanagh, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Jeremy Cooney, Rachel May, Peter Harckham, Sean Ryan, and Joseph Addabbo, all of whom have received 5-digit donations from the UFT and our affiliates over the last two fiscal years. More information will be posted on these senators in our next article.

2b. NYS Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee (NYSDACC): $255,900

Contributions: 2022 NYSUT: $117,300  2023 NYSUT: $138,600

The NYSDACC is yet another committee of democratic candidates. Much larger than the DSCC, the DACC totals 102 members, including Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (discussed at length later in this article), Philip Ramos, Monica Wallace, Erik M. Dilan, Brian Cunningham, Jaime R. Williams, David Weprin, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Andrew Hevesi, Yudelka Tapia, Al Stirpe, Angelo Santabarbara, Nader J. Sayegh, and Nily Rozic, all of whom received $5,000 or more in campaign donations from the UFT, NYSUT, and/or AFT over the course of 2022-2023. More information will be posted on some of these legislators in a future article.

4. UUP Higher Education Action Fund: $250,872.44

Contributions: 2022 New York State United Teachers: $89.971  2023 New York State United Teachers: $160,901.44

The United University Professions (UUP) Higher Education Action Fund is “the nation’s largest higher education union” (more info here). The UUP “uses donations to NYSUT’S VOTE-COPE fund to help elect pro-SUNY state legislators,” according to a posting on their website. One of the reasons why it’s so difficult to find out where our (UFT) money goes is because 25% of it goes to our affiliates (NYSUT and AFT primarily, although the AFL-CIO also receives a small portion) and our affiliates receive money from other teacher unions. However, transparency is key, so even though the money allocated to UUP may not have come from our union dues (but who knows?), the information was included here.

5. New York State Democratic Committee: $234,600

Contributions: 2022 American Federation of Teachers: $117,300  2022 New York State United Teachers: $117,300

You may be starting to notice a trend here when it comes to where a big chunk of the money from teachers unions seems to be going. Unlike the NYSDSCC and NYSDACC, the New York State Democratic Committee encompasses more than state senators. The NYSDC counts Governor Kathy Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, AG Letitia James, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and hundreds of other democratic legislators amongst its rank and file.

6. Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee: $211,000

Contributions: 2022 NYSUT: $6,000  2022 UFT: $50,000  2022 United Federation of Teachers: $95,000  2023 United Federation of Teachers: $60,000

Finally, we get to see campaign donations made directly by the UFT. In total, the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee received half ($205,000 out of a total of $410,875) of all UFT campaign donations in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. According to their website, the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee “recruits, trains, and supports pro-choice Democratic women to run for state and local office throughout New York.” Their info page provides a bit more specificity, as it mentions that they helped fund then “little-known candidates like Kathy Hochul and Andrea Stewart-Cousins win their first elections.” The committee endorsed over 300 pro-choice female candidates in 2023, 160 of which were victorious. 

7. Kathy Hochul: $186,500

Contributions: 2022 American Federation of Teachers: $69,700  2022 Voice of Teachers for Education: $69,700  2022 United Federation of Teachers: $47,100

Governor Hochul is the first individual to make this list and she does so in a big way, bringing in nearly $200,000 from our teachers’ unions, including nearly $50,000 directly from the UFT. Despite all the money teacher unions have given over to Hochul (both directly and through Super PACs), it has been difficult to ascertain whether or not she appreciates our support. For the sake of this article, we will leave the politics out of it and focus strictly on her policies regarding public schools.

Mayoral Control: Despite an immense amount of pushback from educators, parents, and even democratic legislators, Governor Hochul was committed to extending mayoral control for Eric Adams, a notorious enemy of public education, for the next four years. A ruling came down that mayoral control would be extended for two years.  

Students and Social Media: In June 2024, Hochul passed the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act into law, which “prohibits social media companies from pushing ‘addictive’ algorithm-driven feeds to anyone under 18 without parental consent” (source: uft.org). Hochul also passed the New York Child Data Protection Act, which “prevents social media platforms from collecting data on children ages 12 and younger without parental consent and from children age 13 and over without informed consent.” 

Charter Schools: In 2023, Hochul revealed her FY 2024 budget and it was a blow to public education. Hochul reopened 22 closed charter schools (AKA zombie charters) throughout New York State; 14 of which were located in New York City. This was actually a decrease from Hochul’s original proposal, “which could have allowed more than 100 charter schools to open in New York City.” The UFT, who had backed Hochul without seeking input from its general membership, was not pleased. Do not be fooled by the letters next to candidates’ names. Pay attention to their actions.

Smaller Class Sizes: On September 8, 2022, Governor Hochul signed the class size bill into law that would reduce class sizes for NYC schools. While it remains to be seen how willing the City will be to enact these laws, Hochul’s support is certainly appreciated.

Funding: On the surface, the governor seems like an ally. After all, the governor originally approved $825 million (2.4%) in additional funding for New York State schools for FY 2025, $340 million of which would be going to NYC schools  However, if you look past the headline, a more grim picture quickly appears.

We can start with the fact that both City and State were expecting more money under Hochul’s original proposal. NYS had anticipated a $1.3 billion increase in funding, a difference of about $500 million from what the governor proposed. Additional funding for NYC schools was short $131 million from what city officials were estimating. These cuts occurred because of Hochul’s approved budget, which introduced two underhanded changes that are extremely detrimental to school aid – a change in the Foundation Aid formula and a change to the “save harmless” contingency, both of which you can read about in this excellent article by Julian Shen-Berro of Chalkbeat.

Hochul’s first change disrupts the formula for calculating Foundation Aid. Instead of using rate of inflation on a year-by-year basis, Hochul decided to determine funding by using the average rate of inflation over the last 10 years. Given our soaring inflation over the last few years, changing the funding formula to use a 10-year average decreases the amount of funding our schools receive.

The second change was just as subversive as the first. Hochul sought to essentially put an end to the “Save Harmless” contingency that ensures that schools will not lose funding if their enrollment drops. “Save Harmless” (also called “Hold Harmless”) has been enforced for decades. Liz Rozenberg of City & State New York explains that if Hochul gets rid of this provision that has served as a lifeline for many schools, “50% of the 673 districts that receive foundation aid will lose funds” Funnily enough, Hochul received so much pushback from both sides of the aisle on this issue that she removed her proposal to end “Save Harmless” a couple of months ago (more info here), so it will not appear in the FY 2025 budget. 

Teacher Recruitment: In 2023, Hochul signed state legislation to “spur teacher recruitment – with a focus on increasing diversity – through the state.” Hochul pointed out that New York State needs to add nearly 200,000 teachers over the next decade “to meet workforce needs.” We always hear about and witness teacher shortages firsthand in our schools, so any push towards increasing those numbers is a good thing.

As you can see, Hochul has done some good things and some terrible things for public schools and educators. Is she worth the political donations she has received? You decide.

8. New York State Public Employees Federation: $179,387.67

Contributions: 2022 AFT Political Action Contribution: $80,021.40  2023 AFT Political Action Contribution: $99,364.27

The PES is a 50,000 member organization not exclusive to teachers. According to the union’s website, PEF members “work in more than 3,000 different titles in every state agency, including nurses, social workers, doctors, engineers, counselors, parole officers, lawyers, IT specialists, teachers, habilitation specialists, therapists, and many more.” Like the UUP, this organization does not sound like it really impacts us, but the AFT must be contributing such large sums of money for a reason.

9. Working Families Party: $90,000

Contributions: 2022 New York State United Teachers: $45,000  2023 New York State United Teachers: $45,000

According to its website, the Working Families Party is a national faction that aims to improve the livelihood of everyday workers. Its members include legislators, district attorneys, judges, mayors, supervisors, trustees, and people of other high-power positions from 20 states throughout the U.S. There are over 175 members in New York, alone. Many are also members of the NYSDSCC and NYSDACC, including a vast majority of the legislators mentioned earlier who received big money donations from the UFT, NYSUT, and/or AFT. The interesting thing about these donations is that although there seems to be a lot of redundancy in terms of which legislators are receiving political donations, the Working Families Party often endorses different candidates than the UFT. For example, in the last couple months, the UFT endorsed eventual winner Micah Lasher in the Democratic primary race for New York State Assembly District 69. The Working Families Party supported his opponent, Eli Northrup, who received the second-most votes. Theoretically, this implies that donations to the Working Families Party (and other parties who support different candidates than the UFT) could be going to candidates that the UFT opposes.

10. Carl E. Heastie: $51,125

Contributions: 2022 NY State United Teachers: $25,000  2023 VOTE COPE (NYSUT’s non-partisan action fund): $1,125  2023 NYS United Teachers: $25,000

Heastie is the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, which may explain why he received more than double the donations of the next highest individual legislator. Heastie is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to educational policy. According to this New York Times article from 2017, Heastie supported an extension of mayoral control, but refused “to bend to the Senate’s demands to increase the number of charter schools in the state as a condition to extend mayoral control of the city’s schools.” Heastie continues to support mayoral control, which has become an increasingly contentious issue during Eric Adams’ tenure. 

On the other hand, Heastie was supportive of the class size reduction act, which should serve as a benefit to students and teachers, assuming there are no detrimental caveats. The long term plan to decrease the maximum allowable number of students per class sounds like a great idea, although it remains to be seen if the City will actually abide by all of its stipulations.

On other issues, Heastie seems to be playing the fence. When asked about Hochul’s proposed changes to the Foundation Aid formula, Heastie said, “We would, of course, make sure the districts are whole, but we are open to re-examining the Foundation Aid formula. But we want to make sure that our rural and suburban districts aren’t harmed by any proposal.” Any type of concession that would favor Hochul’s agenda would be a tragic mistake that would take away major funding from our public schools. 

More articles will be forthcoming naming other large recipients of our unions’ lobbying efforts.

-David Ginsberg