Report: Maryland teachers’ union lines its own pockets with millions of taxpayer dollars

The state teachers’ union in Maryland is spending millions on its own employees while neglecting teachers and students, a new report revealed.

Project Baltimore, a Maryland watchdog organization, discovered that the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) brought in $26.5 million last year. And $17 million went directly to the union’s 93 employees.

“Unions should be helping the schools, not helping themselves,” David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told local media. “It’s shameful to see that the union is getting paid these exorbitant amounts of salary compensation while students are failing.”

MSEA’s tax filings reveal the union’s top employees make over a quarter of a million dollars each. Many others made well over six figures too, with Project Baltimore estimating the average salary to be $181,000.

Meanwhile, Maryland’s public schools are getting worse.

According to the state report card, only 1 in 5 students are proficient in Algebra. And less than half can read at grade level.

Meanwhile, many parents have grown upset with the schools for other reasons, especially over the teaching of controversial, liberal ideology. Hundreds of parents in Montgomery County rallied this summer – and even filed a lawsuit – in opposition to the LGBT ideology they say is being forced on their children.

Maryland educators pay hundreds of dollars every year to retain their union membership.

Project Baltimore found that MSEA has spent $6.4 million on travel expenses in the past decade – over $50,000 a month on average.

On top of that, the union has also amassed $45 million in assets.

“Teachers are always complaining that they don’t have enough supplies,” Williams commented. “The union could take millions of dollars that they have and buy supplies for the teachers to make the kids have a better educational experience. The unions are failing the kids. They’re failing the state.” 

Despite low proficiency rates in reading and math, Maryland public schools are some of the most expensive in the U.S. 

Average per-pupil funding is over $18,000, making public schools more costly than the state’s private schools. 

However, the only solution state leaders have come up with is more money. In January, Democrat Gov. Wes Moore increased the state’s K-12 budget to nearly $9 billion. 

Cheryl Bost, president of the MSEA, praised the state for pouring more money into the struggling system, although the union is more likely to benefit from the extra money than the students, if the recent report is any indication.