EXCLUSIVE: Teacher Freedom Alliance tops 10,000 members, signaling demand for teacher union alternative 

More than 10,000 educators have joined the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a new national organization positioning itself as an alternative to traditional teachers’ unions.

In the year since it launched, thousands of teachers are “rejecting the failed leadership of teachers’ unions,” the alliance said in a release first shared with The Lion. “For decades, union bosses have used taxpayer-funded resources to advance political agendas while American classrooms have suffered the consequences. Now, teachers are pushing back.”

The alliance is the only national organization mobilizing educators at scale to challenge the grip unions – chiefly the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers – have maintained over public education. Stories abound of union members facing discrimination, sanctions and pressure for questioning policies that almost exclusively favor leftist policies and politicians.

“The era of union bosses speaking for every educator in America is coming to an end,” said Ryan Walters, TFA’s CEO and a former Oklahoma state superintendent. “For too long, union leadership has abused taxpayer money to push political activism instead of supporting good teachers and strong classrooms.”

The alliance, which is free to join, provides liability insurance and opportunities to earn professional development credits. It aims to restore the focus on academics and traditional American values while putting students’ needs above those of administrators.

The number of school administrators and other staff has grown exponentially in recent years, even as the number of students and classroom teachers has declined or remained stagnant.

While the NEA and AFT boast about 3 million teacher members between them, TFA’s rapid rise means “the dam is breaking” on their monopoly, said Corey DeAngelis, an education freedom advocate.

“Teachers are waking up to the fact that they don’t have to fund agendas they oppose – it’s time to choose freedom and keep more of their hard-earned money,” he told The Lion.

“It would be crazy for conservative teachers to continue funneling their hard-earned paychecks to Democrat campaign coffers through union dues when they can join the Teacher Freedom Alliance and receive personal liability insurance for free. This milestone proves the shift toward true teacher empowerment is unstoppable.”

DeAngelis hopes the “mass exodus will finally give union bosses an incentive to focus on academics instead of activism,” and said union leaders have “overplayed their hand by going off the deep end with their unhinged political rhetoric, alienating the very teachers they claim to represent.

“As teachers opt out of funding political agendas, unions will have to prioritize classrooms over causes or risk losing even more support.”

Walters said the movement will continue to expand nationally to mobilize more teachers who want to educate students, not play politics.

“Teachers across America are waking up,” he said. “The Teacher Freedom Alliance is giving those teachers a voice and building a movement to restore common sense to American education.”