Randi Weingarten heads the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers union in the United States with 1.7 million members. She says the "culture wars" rocking school boards and legislatures are a way to build support for laws to expand private school voucher programs that use education funds to pay students' tuition at private, online or even religious schools. This year, 29 state legislatures are considering bills to either create or expand voucher programs, according to Weingarten, in addition to the 72 voucher and tax credit programs already passed in 33 states. She asserts that efforts by right-wing lawmakers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban critical race theory and books containing "woke" messaging are only part of this larger effort to redirect public school dollars.
In a March 28 address to the National Press Club, Weingarten declared that the culture wars and voucher programs are an existential threat to public education. She called for reinvesting in teachers, building out experiential learning and expanding community schools to transform campuses into social centers that offer programs and services like English classes for parents, gardens and even legal and medical clinics.
