Member Benefits
How to Join
En Espanol
AFT President Randi Weingarten has always been ready to fight for public education, and at the opening session of TEACH 2025 it was clear that AFT members are ready to fight with her. In a speech punctuated by enthusiastic cheers and applause, Weingarten laid out the landscape of unprecedented threats not just to public education but to the very fabric of our democracy, then offered a plan to address them and to “imagine a bold vision for our public schools and a better life for working people.”
Education is primary to that vision. “We know that the route to the American dream goes through our public schools,” Weingarten said. “Public schools are the embodiment of America’s civic values and democratic ideals: that all young people should have opportunities to prepare for life, for college, for career and for citizenship.”
Pianist Jason Afovi, a 10-year-old student from the Bronx, opened the session with inspiring performances of Chopin and Mozart, warming up the room with a reminder of why educators are in the profession: for students like him. Then there was this breaking news: After freezing about $7 billion in congressionally allocated school funding, the Trump administration has finally released its illegal hold on resources that are crucial for students getting ready to start the school year. Weingarten celebrated on stage with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who is a longtime advocate for public schools and labor.
“Today they backed down,” said Weingarten. “Our lobbying, our lawsuits, … our advocacy for why these funds matter to kids, it all worked.”
“Your voices matter,” said Hirono. And they are essential as the Trump administration wreaks havoc. Hirono called the firing of half of the U.S. Department of Education staff an “abuse of power,” condemned the recent budget reconciliation bill as “a thousand pages of pain” and urged AFT members to continue to speak out.
Three members followed: AFT retiree Marjorie Harrison gave an impassioned pitch for volunteering and truly making a difference with phone-banking and mobilizingother members. New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person described her union’s successful effort to limit cellphone use in schools, noting that the increased anxiety and disconnection they create had become not “just an annoyance” but “an educational emergency.” And Kent Wong, vice president of the CFT, California’s AFT affiliate, shared the work the CFT is doing—with Know Your Rights workshops and rapid response programs—to help protect immigrant students and families as they face terrifying threats to the lives they’ve built in this country.
Fighting for a vision
Weingarten opened her speech by recognizing how educators take care of their students even as they “deal with everything from budget cuts to culture wars—with class sizes that are way too high and salaries that are way too low.” Then she talked about how we fight back and “why we must be beacons for our communities as never before,” even as the government attacks essentials like healthcare, food security, education, medical research and Social Security, which keeps “the elderly and the vulnerable out of destitution.”
“We have to fight back against these attacks on our students, on our schools and our way of life,” said Weingarten, and at the same time establish and maintain a vision for something better: safe, welcoming, relevant and engaging schools for everyone. We can fight for those things at the bargaining table and on the streets, at the local school board, in the statehouse, in Washington and at the ballot box. “Fight for a better future that gives people hope, builds connection and overcomes the authoritarian threat we face. A future that people can see, they can feel and that they believe is possible,” said Weingarten.
Back to basics
Weingarten stressed the importance of evidence-based reading instruction and project-based learning. She championed community schools that offer wraparound services and support for families and children. And she celebrated the career and technical education programs the AFT has helped create and maintain as transformational pathways for young people.
“The strategies we’re advocating—focusing on reading, wrapping services around schools, project-based instruction—these are not shiny new objects, they’re just good ideas that help kids succeed,” said Weingarten. She also advocated for teacher involvement in the development of artificial intelligence, pointing to the new National Academy for AI instruction the AFT is helping to launch.
These innovations help shape the vision Weingarten is calling for. “Imagine fully funded public schools and the freedom to provide the learning you know engages and excites your students instead of the straitjacket of standardized tests,” she said. “Imagine teachers and support staff being paid what they deserve. Imagine an economy that gives every American a path to the middle class and a vibrant life. Imagine a government that cuts taxes for the working class, not for the rich. And that recognizes that healthcare is a human right.”
“We are the future-makers,” Weingarten told the packed conference hall. “So let’s imagine that better future and fight like hell to make it a reality.”
[Virginia Myers]