Marxist Lesson Plans and Woke Indoctrination: Major Teachers Union’s Federal Charter Under Fire

Liberty Check

• America’s largest teachers union faces congressional scrutiny for promoting radical left-wing curriculum and funding dark money operations with member dues
• Senate committee documents NEA collaboration with groups teaching kids to admire violent Black Panthers and embrace ‘queer liberation’ activism
• Union spent hundreds of millions on Democrat causes while students struggle with basic reading and math

The National Education Association, representing three million educators nationwide, is under intense fire from Senate Republicans who say the organization has betrayed its century-old mission to advance American education. Instead, critics charge, the NEA has become a vehicle for far-left indoctrination and political activism.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is now calling on Congress to reconsider the NEA’s congressional charter granted in 1906.

“Children are struggling to read and to do basic math. Instead of helping students succeed, teachers’ unions are injecting a dangerous, anti-American agenda into our classrooms,” Cassidy told Fox News Digital. “Parents deserve to send their children to school without worrying that they will be indoctrinated with DEI and taught that Americans have ‘misplaced faith’ in our institutions.”

An explosive report from Cassidy’s committee, obtained exclusively, reveals the extent of the NEA’s partnerships with radical educational nonprofits. The union has worked closely with the Zinn Education Project and Rethinking Schools — organizations that produce curriculum materials praising violent extremist groups and pushing LGBTQ activism on elementary school children.

According to the Senate report, these groups have published lesson plans that glorify the Black Panther Party, a Marxist militant organization responsible for murdering police officers and civil servants during the Cold War.

“The Marxist and communist ideologies espoused by the Black Panther Party are inconsistent and incompatible with the foundation of the United States Constitution,” the HELP committee report states. “The Black Panthers advocated for the use of armed force against police and were involved in the murders of civil servants and members of their own party.”

Yet the NEA has given these radical groups prominent speaking opportunities at conferences, collaborated with them on curriculum development, incorporated their materials into educator handbooks, and helped distribute their lesson plans to teachers across the nation.

Rethinking Schools published a lesson plan requiring students to role-play as “queer liberation” activists fighting the “Religious Right.” Another lesson titled “Expanding Intersectional Queer History in the Elementary Grades” instructs teachers how to incorporate LGBTQ material into lessons for young children.

The union’s political activism extends far beyond the classroom. The NEA actively promoted and participated in the 2026 May Day protests targeting President Donald Trump and Republicans. In planning webinars, educators were told to “bring activism into the classroom,” targeting children as young as three years old.

In Chicago, teachers encouraged students to skip class for the protests — even as the city’s public schools post dismal reading and math scores.

The financial picture is equally troubling. Since 2015, the NEA has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in member dues to left-wing advocacy organizations and political action committees. Recipients include the Sixteen Thirty Fund and Tides Foundation, two of the largest Democratic dark money operations in the country.

In some cases, political organizations funded by the NEA later provided cushy jobs to members of the union’s leadership team, raising serious conflict-of-interest concerns.

“The central issue is not whether every such expenditure is impermissible. Rather, it is whether members receive sufficient transparency about how their dues are used, whether union leadership has adopted adequate safeguards against conflicts of interest and whether these expenditures advance the purposes for which members joined the union in the first place,” the Senate committee report reads.

The union’s own Jewish Affairs Caucus has accused NEA leadership of failing to address rampant antisemitism within the organization. In an August 2025 letter, Jewish educators reported experiencing “shunning, harassment and antisemitic comments” at the union’s annual assembly.

Congress originally chartered the NEA under the expectation that it would “elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching; and to promote the cause of education in the United States.” Cassidy and other Republicans argue the union has completely abandoned that mission.

While revoking the charter would primarily deliver a reputational blow — the union could still operate without it — the move would send a powerful message about accountability and the proper role of educators in American society.

The American Federation of Teachers, though not congressionally chartered, faces similar criticism in Cassidy’s report for participating in “No Kings” protests against President Trump, boycotting Target over immigration enforcement, and routing tens of millions to liberal causes.

The scrutiny comes as the NEA transitions to new leadership. Princess R. Moss, a former NEA vice president and secretary-treasurer, began a three-year term as president Tuesday, succeeding Becky Pringle, who led the union for six years.

The NEA, AFT, Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project all declined to comment.

The Constitution must be defended.