United Teachers Los Angeles supports merit pay “on a cold day in hell”

The Detroit Federation of Teachers shut down city schools to stop 15 charter schools from being built for free

The California Teachers Association has compared school vouchers to child prostitution

The Washington Teachers Union has withheld kids’ college recommendations for parents who didn’t oppose school reform

In Illinois (outside of Chicago), two union-protected teachers out of 95,500 are terminated for incompetence annually

In Illinois (outside of Chicago), it costs $219,504.21 to fire a bad union-protected teacher

In New Jersey, five union-protected teachers out of more than 100,000 are terminated for incompetence annually

In New York State, seventeen union-protected teachers are terminated a year

In New York State, it costs $128,941 to fire a bad union-protected teacher

In New York City, only ten out of 55,000 tenured teachers were terminated in 2006-2007

In Los Angeles, only eleven out of 43,000 union-protected teachers are even considered for termination annually

The National Education Association received $50 million for shaky investment advice in 2004 alone

NEA members are suing over the union’s endorsement of “Valuebuilder,” a plan with over $1 billion of members’ money invested

New York State United Teachers received $3 million for shaky investment advice in 2005

Washington Teachers Union embezzlement tab: $5 million

United Teachers of Dade (Miami) embezzlement tab: $2.5 million

Massachusetts Teachers Association embezzlement tab: $800,000

Michigan teachers unions' embezzlement tab from one thief: $218,000 in bad checks

Washington Teachers Union Scandal

For years, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) failed to protect the members of its Washington, D.C. affiliate. According to a March 2003 AFT publication, Washington Teachers Union president Barbara Bullock -- along with a small group of co-conspirators -- illegally diverted $5 million from the union between 1995 and 2002. That amounts to $1,000 per teacher stolen, laundered, or used for the personal expenses of union officials.

Around 1996, Bullock discovered fashion. The Washington Post reported in October 2003 that she began wearing custom-made dresses and carrying handbags by Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Bullock bought an exercise bike and treadmill. After shedding a few pounds, she was forced to buy a whole new wardrobe. In time, Bullock would spend $150,000 at Neiman Marcus, $20,000 at wigmaker Orreon Styles, and upwards of $500,000 at a dress shop near Baltimore.

Fox News reported that WTU members’ money was used for luxury items including fur, silver, art, jewelry, custom-made clothes, and improper political donations to the Democratic National Committee and the U.S. Senate campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of which were later returned.

The conspiracy even included the creation of a fraudulent company, “Expressions Unlimited,” created by the son-in-law of Bullock aide Gwendolyn Hemphill. Expressions Unlimited laundered more than $480,000 from the teachers union, The Washington Times reported.

As more people began dipping into the union’'s coffers, the WTU started to struggle financially in visible ways. The Washington Post reported that rent and phone bills went unpaid and broken-down office equipment would sit for months before it was repaired. As noted by the National Legal and Policy Center, the union ceased making regular monthly dues payments to the AFT, its parent union, in the fall of 2000. The WTU’s failure to make these payments, which totaled about $50,000 per month, should have caught the attention of the AFT, but officials there allowed the dues to slide for nearly two years.

The last straw, however, came in the summer of 2002 when Bullock, apparently strapped for cash, instructed the D.C. school district to increase the monthly dues deductions from 5,000 teachers. The National Legal and Policy Center has reported that the monthly deductions should have increased by $16, but WTU told the D.C. public schools to hike the dues by $160. When teachers protested, the scheme started to unravel.

Who Embezzled Teacher’s Money?

The American Federation of Teachers estimates that roughly $5 million was taken from its subsidiary, the Washington Teachers Union, between 1996 and 2002. The amounts listed below are those that can be directly traced to individual conspirators.

Barbara Bullock was president of the Washington Teachers Union from 1994 to 2003. In 2003, Bullock was forced from office after it was discovered that she had embezzled millions of dollars from the union. She racked up $1.8 million in unauthorized credit card charges and an additional $381,000 in illicit payments.

Gwendolyn Hemphill, an aide to Bullock, spent $492,000 in unauthorized credit card charges and checks.

James Baxter, the treasurer of the WTU, made $537,000 in credit card purchases and illicit payments.

Leroy Holmes was a chauffeur employed by the WTU. He cashed $1.2 million in improper checks for other conspirators and received an annual “salary" of $105,000 -- higher than any WTU official other than Bullock.

Michael Martin (Hemphill's son-in-law) and Errol Adelman operated the company “Expressions Unlimited,” which billed the union for $483,000 in fraudulent expenses.

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