RHYEN STALEY: How Teachers Unions And Radical Nonprofits Turn K–12 Students Into Political Activists In The Streets

Far-left political wolves have shed their friendly disguises to openly crusade for their desired radical ends, and they are using American K-12 students to achieve them.

In recent weeks, thousands of school-aged children have flocked to the streets during the school day, allegedly unsupervised, to help advance what the extreme climate activist group Sunrise Movement openly calls a “political revolution.”

These K-12 “ICE student walkouts” and protests are a byproduct of an education system seized by provocateurs for leftwing activism and far-left social justice causes. But this current “movement” did not risespontaneously. In fact, it is being directed, organized, supported, and encouraged by the teachers unions in collusion with professional activist nonprofits.

For example, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a self-described communist political party, has disrupted American streets for years – including being a key participant in nationwide “No Kings” protests. A review of images and videos of student walkouts reveals that the group’s mass-produced signage appears repeatedly at these protests.

Look for white signs with black lettering and the group’s name at the bottom.

PSL seems to be involved in material support and social media propaganda, which is certainly no small matter. However, thankfully, the communist group does not seem to directly engage with kids in the same way Sunrise Movement does.

Through the facilitation of school clubs, Sunrise Movement has been able to assert its influence inside K-12 schools through its student members. While the organization does not publicly declare itself a communist or socialist organization, its rhetoric, tactics, and demands are wholly aligned with the radical ideology that has a horrific historical track record. This is evident in the ​​group’s calls for economic class warfare, constant use of neo-Marxist cliches, mid-level violence tactics, and a vague collectivist utopia that is supposed to follow the so-called “political revolution.”

These near-weekly disruptions are not driven by outside nonprofits alone. They are coordinated with other politically and ideologically aligned organizations, including teachers’ unions.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association’s counterpart, includes the Sunrise Movement on its list of “Climate Justice Partners” and actually hosted an event with the climate activist group in 2020.

More recently, a virtual event hosted by Sunrise Movement featured National Education Association (NEA) president Becky Pringle. Their “Roadmap to Political Revolution” programming called for “mass disruptions” of the current political and economic system and to rebel against “billionaires.”

This would be amusing if these were different times. The issue is not wealth– it is political power and social control.

In 2023, Sunrise Movement received six-figure funding from the Ford Foundation, a nonprofit organization that reported more than $14 billion in end-of-year net assets. Meanwhile, the NEA’s 2023 gross receipts were over $650 million, with an end-of-year net asset balance of $374 million.

Since 2015, the two dominant teachers’ unions shelled out over $220 million to leftwing groups and political allies, including the Sunrise Movement.

What is happening across the country is not some grassroots, “power to the people” uprising. It is a political move by teachers’ unions and radical actors to regain control over the system as a whole to advance their collectivist, anti-Western agenda.

Most concerning is the willingness of these organizations to use this country’s  K-12 students to accomplish their goals. They have already demonstrated their ability to gain influence over children and mobilize our kids for ideological causes.

Parents, administrators, teachers and community members who  care about the learning and safety of children should not ignore this. Encouraging children to skip school for political demonstrations shows that these groups lack principles and restraint.

The road to a far-left “political revolution” is paved through American schools. It is time to tear it up.

Rhyen Staley is the Director of Research for Defending Education. He holds a master’s degree in elementary education and has over a decade of classroom experience in both public and private schools. He has over 25 years of volleyball coaching experience from women’s Division I down to junior high.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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