After years of losses on the political front — including an unsuccessful effort this year to halt the expansion of public charter schools — the New York State United Teachers have finally won a real political victory. With Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Empire State’s Board of Regents poised to gut the teacher evaluation reform they put into place over the past five years, the American Federation of Teachers’ affiliate can end this calendar year striking a blow against systemic reform.
Yet the largest of the AFT’s state affiliates can’t claim any good news on the financial front. As the union’s filing with the U.S. Department of Labor shows, NYSUT’s pension and post-employment liabilities are continuing to do damage to its balance sheet.
The AFT affiliate reports that it accrued $383 million in retirement liabilities in 2014-2015. That is a slight increase over the $380 million in liabilities it reported during the previous year. This includes $233 million in pension liabilities (a 1.7 percent decline over 2013-2014), and $150 million in retiree healthcare obligations (a 28 percent increase over 2013-2014). The higher liabilities explain why NYSUT spent $44 million on benefits in 2014-2015, a 4.6 percent increase over the previous year, and 10 percent more than it did five years ago. By the way: If NYSUT were to land in bankruptcy, it would have just $111 million in assets to cover those and other liabilities; essentially it owes $306 million more than it could pay back, making the union virtually insolvent.
NYSUT added just 4,756 members in 2014-2015, a seven-tenths of one percent increase (to 640,418). But the news is even worse than those woeful growth numbers portray. While the number of classroom teachers joining the rank-and-file increased by 2.1 percent, the gain was offset by a 60 percent decline in members in so-called special constituency groups (who pay into the union’s coffers, but have no voting rights). Although those members don’t pay enough into the coffers, they still contribute to the bottom line. Even worse, NYSUT experienced a 4.1 percent decline in agency-fee payers, whose dollars are used by the AFT affiliate for their political activities even though they are technically not supposed to be.
Despite the losses, NYSUT increased dues and agency-fee collections by 2.8 percent over 2013-2014 to $126 million. Overall revenues increased by 2.1 percent to $246 million. The national AFT provided $10.3 million in subsidies in 2014-2015, a 15 percent decline over the previous year; the National Education Association, with which NYSUT is also affiliated, paid out $2 million, a slight increase over the level last year. The union’s Teaching & Learning Trust provided $2.1 million in revenue in 2014-2015, one-third less than in the previous year, while the union’s Member Benefits affiliate, which like the one operated by AFT, peddles annuities and insurance plans to its members, generated $7.7 million, a 22 percent increase. As for the bottom line? The AFT affiliate generated a $3.8 million surplus, the third consecutive year in generated more money than it spent. This even with a 2.9 percent (or $6.7 million) increase in spending within the last year.
Where is the money going? Influence-buying, of course. NYSUT spent $101.4 million on lobbying, contributions to like-minded groups and spending on almost-always political “representational activities”. This is an 11 percent increase over levels in 2013-2014. Among the big recipients: Alliance for Quality Education, which has long been a reliable vassal of the affiliate and the parent national union (including in their effort to take down former CNN anchor-turned-reformer Campbell Brown). NYSUT gave $115,084 to AQE in 2014-2015, 23 percent less than last year. The union also gave $279,720 to Citizen Action of New York and its Public Policy and Education Fund. The AFT affiliate gave $560,708 to Strong Economy for All Coalition, a cadre of public-sector unions and progressive outfits whose members include Citizen Action, and AQE; the group was responsible for a campaign last year that chastised Cuomo from taking dollars from hedge fund operators who happen to back school choice. The Education Law Center, another longtime vassal of NYSUT, received $100,000 from the union for its school funding lawsuits and efforts to oppose the expansion of charter schools.
The union gave $40,000 to the Working Families Party, whose candidate last year, Zephyr Teachout, strongly challenged Cuomo during the Democratic gubernatorial primary; the union also gave a mere $6,700 to NAACP’s New York State branch, and handed out $10,000 to the New York branch of League of Women Voters. The Beltway-based Economic Policy Institute also got $5,000, while the closer-to-home Fiscal Policy Institute got $10,000 for its efforts. The Long Island Progressive Coalition got $45,000 from NYSUT for its media efforts.
The biggest spend for NYSUT came in the form of political ads and other messaging. The AFT affiliate spent $1.6 million with campaign media consultancy Visuality for ads and social media activities; spent an even bigger $3.1 million with Shorr Johnson Magnus (which recently garnered notice for refusing to work on Hillary Clinton’s political campaign), and dropped $718,396 with progressive-oriented messaging firm Blue & Read for direct mail. On the video production front, NYSUT spent $101,032 with Gracey Communications Group, while buying $168,022 worth of billboard space from Lamar Cos.
For public relations, tossed $168,923 to public relations firm Berlin Rosen, as well as $20,000 with union-oriented outfit Campbell & Associates. The union also spent $56,530 with media consultancy City & State for additional flack assistance. NYSUT also went to Democrat pollster Celinda Lake’s eponymous firm, which is a go-to outfit for teachers’ unions; the AFT unit spent $67,665 with the outfit, likely getting the same talking points on opposing standardized testing that NEA paid for so dearly. NYSUT’s political action committee was subsidized to the tune of $1.1 million in 2014-2015, 38 percent more than in the previous fiscal year.
Meanwhile NYSUT also helped out with the national AFT’s goals, putting $416,031 into the parent union’s Northeast Regional Organizing Project. It also directed $13.7 million into the United Federation of Teachers, which has essentially controlled NYSUT since last year when its then-president, Richard Iannuzzi, was ousted with the help of the AFT local’s president, Michael Mulgrew.
Given that NYSUT is on its way to a rare political victory, one can say that the AFT affiliate’s president, Karen Magee, has earned her money. She was paid $287,712, double her salary in 2013-2014. Executive Director Thomas Anapolis was paid $237,096, a 6.2 percent hike over the previous year’s paycheck. And Andrew Pallotta, the union’s executive vice president and UFT’s chief representative within it, got $255,698, or 4.2 percent more than in 2013-2014.
Certainly NYSUT is in great shape, politically or fiscally. With state education officials already in collective bargaining negotiations between the virtually-busted Buffalo district and AFT’s affiliate there, as well as with failure mills in New York City and elsewhere targeted for takeover, NYSUT is still on the defensive. But with Cuomo scaling back the role of student test score growth data in teacher evaluations, the AFT affiliate has one victory in hand, even if its finances are still wrecked.
You can check out the data yourself by perusing the HTML version of the New York State AFT’s latest financial report, or by visiting the Department of Labor’s Web site.