Teachers’ unions didn’t just get it wrong during the COVID crisis — they revealed their true priorities. When parents, educators, and students needed leadership, the unions delivered politics. When children needed support, they got silence. When classrooms needed to be open, unions lobbied to keep them shut.
They didn’t act in the interest of science or safety. They acted in the interest of power. And now, children across the country are still dealing with the fallout.
The worst test scores in decades — and no apologies
The data is in, and it’s devastating. Reading and math scores collapsed. Chronic absenteeism exploded. Behavioral issues are worse than ever. Students in poor and middle-class communities — the very kids unions claim to care about — lost years of progress.
But union leaders haven’t admitted failure. They’ve doubled down. In their world, the problem isn’t that they kept schools closed for political reasons — the problem is that anyone dared to question them.
Political loyalty over student success
Instead of rebuilding trust or focusing on learning, the unions went all in on their political agenda. DEI, CRT, gender ideology, and partisan electioneering became their focus. The classroom became the battleground for a cultural war that parents never agreed to fight.
These are the same unions that fought school choice, demanded mask mandates long after they were needed, and called concerned parents “extremists” when they showed up at school board meetings. It’s not about education — it’s about control.
No regrets — because they don’t have to answer for anything
There has been no reckoning. No accountability. Union officials still collect paychecks. Bureaucrats still get promoted. And the kids? They’re expected to catch up on their own time, in underfunded classrooms, under activist leadership, with no apology and no plan.
The public was gaslit. The experts were captured. And now we’re watching the system try to memory-hole the entire thing.
Idaho is leading — others need to follow
Legislation like HB98 is what real accountability looks like. It’s not about punishing teachers. It’s about cutting off the political machine that used a national emergency to expand its grip while leaving students behind.
Unions shouldn’t get taxpayer assistance to collect dues. They shouldn’t be allowed to embed their ideology into every corner of the school system unchecked. And they definitely shouldn’t be treated as the default voice of educators — because they’ve proven they don’t speak for students or parents.
Burn the playbook
The teachers’ union playbook has run its course: exploit fear, crush dissent, hide behind “the kids,” and walk away richer and more powerful. But that only works when nobody pushes back.
We’re pushing back.
Let them fund their activism without our help. Let them earn teachers’ support instead of extracting it. Let them finally feel what accountability actually looks like.
We don’t owe them a seat at the table. Not anymore.
