Liberals would have you believe that strong teacher unions equate with strong schools and solid results, but a new study found the exact opposite.
Of the states included in the study, blue states with the strongest teacher unions also happened to have the lowest reading scores.
Conversely, red states cited in the study, which give less attention to teacher unions, score much higher.
FOX News reports:
Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read
States with stronger teachers’ unions tend to have weaker literacy performance and have adopted fewer of the policies credited with improving reading outcomes, according to a new analysis from a center-left think tank.
Eight of the 10 states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers’ unions. Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers’ unions.
Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican-leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.
The pattern isn’t universal. Maryland, a blue state with a strong teachers’ union, has posted strong reading results, while South Dakota, a red state with a weaker union, has struggled. The differences suggest union strength and party control alone don’t explain states’ reading performance.
It’s kind of amazing, isn’t it?
The stronger the teachers unions, the fewer early literacy reforms states have adopted.
Blue states average just 9 of 18 key literacy policies, compared with 13.5 in red and purple states.
Children’s ability to read should come BEFORE union power. pic.twitter.com/mSLhEahRrY
— Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) September 14, 2026
More from the New York Post:
One reason for the disparity, Canter argued, is that states where teacher unions have a strong grip are slower to enact better programs.
She looked at 18 literacy policies recommended by ExcelinEd and found Democratic states had undertaken nine of them on average, while Republican and swing states had adopted an average of 13.5.
“States dominated by Democrats have been slower to embrace similar reforms,” Canter said. “Organized labor might explain some of this gap.”
Canter’s successes were a meteoric transformation of Mississippi’s students — in 2013 the state had some of the worst test scores for middle and elementary students in the country, but by 2024 they had climbed to seventh in literacy and 13th in math.
Despite all of this, Democrats will continue to believe they are better on education issues.
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