The Tennessee Education Association, the teachers union in the state, spent more than $500,000 between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 on political activities, according to its filings with the Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, most of which went to candidates for state offices. The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) is the state affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the country with a reported three million members. TEA membership is a fractional one percent of NEA’s total membership with about 30,000 members according to the organization’s most recent Form 990 filing with the IRS available through Foundation Center. A review of all the filings of the Tennessee Education Association Fund for Children & Publication Political Action Committee (PAC) with the TBECF revealed that the organization spent $529,000 during this two year period, the majority of which was spent on direct financial contributions to state political party organizations, state legislative candidates and gubernatorial candidates. The breakdown by category is: $274,000 was donated to or on behalf of state legislative candidates and state gubernatorial candidates $138,000 was donated to state political parties or political action committees associated with state political parties $73,000 was spent…
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