Sue, Sue, Sue Again

In the WSJ, Kimberley Strassel wonders how many elected Democrats the teachers’ unions will take down with them.

Readers might ask, what’s going on? As Ms. Strassel explains, after decades of swaggering political power, of lording it over parents and legislatures, the education monopoly went a step too far during Covid. Now the losses are racking up.

The biggest government reform story in recent years has been the explosive growth of school choice.

Today, 34 states offer vouchers, scholarships, or savings accounts. 19 of the 34 have universal choice programs.

At the federal level, reports Ms. Strassel, “Donald Trump’s administration is breaking the stranglehold the unions held over the Education Department money box, while a new federal tax-credit scholarship program will further fuel the choice movement. Unions are losing their grip over local school boards.” Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME (2018), which allowed teachers to opt out of unions, is also leading to declining membership and lower dues.

But it gets worse. Union bosses have lost the voting public and their cast-iron control over the Democratic Party. Look no further than Colorado, where Gov. Jared Polis recently announced he’ll opt his state into the new federal tax-credit scholarship program. Then move on to North Carolina, where Gov. Josh Stein, who loudly vetoed a GOP bill requiring the state to join the program, only to say quietly he intends to opt in anyway. Asks KS, “Can you blame them?”

School choice is growing more politically powerful and popular by the day. Both men fear voter blowback from denying parents donor-provided scholarship money for choice programs they love.

Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin have officially refused to participate in the federal program, causing outright panic among the National Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers’ Union, according to KS.

It’s one thing for purple-state governors to remain on the fence. But when even California, New York and Illinois are debating whether to give their parents access to choice dollars—in a nod to the danger of giving the GOP a wedge issue—the unions have a big problem.

What’s a union to do? Well, use lawfare. Attempt to impose via judicial decree what they “can’t win from voter sentiment or whip politics.” Active cases, explains Ms. Strassel, “now rage in Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming, with past cases in many more states.”

The legal attacks vary, though most come down to a variant of the argument that choice somehow violates a state’s duty to provide a “uniform” education.

The goal is to cause damage even when the unions don’t prevail in court, continues KS.

Gov. Brad Little signed legislation creating Idaho’s universal choice program in February of 2025. A coalition including Idaho’s union didn’t sue until September—getting headlines alongside the start of school, and ensuring the litigation was raging when the sign-up period began in January of this year. Plaintiffs in Wyoming last year got a court to impose an injunction only after the sign-up period for the state’s new choice program, leaving 4,000 applicants in limbo this school year. Wyoming’s case came to a head this week in oral arguments in front of the state supreme court, but the litigation and continued injunction cast a shadow over the most recent sign-up period. Utah families are in a similar legal limbo.

Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children, explains that even though the unions know they will lose every case, by delaying or enjoining the programs, it’s a last-ditch effort to slow maximum uptake for families.

Indeed, many suits are striking out. “Idaho’s high court just ruled 5-0 in favor of the state choice program,” reports Ms. Strassel.

Top courts in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and West Virginia have upheld choice programs. The U.S. Supreme Court has continued to issue beneficial rulings. Yet the legal threat is real, and unions, often accompanied by local school districts, continue to throw millions at litigation and disruption, forcing states to spend huge amounts to defend against them. Then the unions and the districts claim schools are underfunded.

How long, wonders K. Strassel, will Democrats stick with this unraveling cartel?

School choice is out of the bottle and experiencing exponential growth, K. Strassel writes.

Union demands that Democrats actively stand athwart this public tide have already become politically untenable, their rearguard actions are further stoking public discontent. It’s past time for Democrats to innovate on the education front; and that’s going to require a new relationship with an outdated and rusty union machine.