US District Court has issued an important ruling that all state affiliates of both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are subject to the reporting requirements of the national Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. Currently only the two national teacher unions and some state affiliates have had to comply with the Act.

Under the Act's terms, any union that represents private sector employees must file detailed financial reports with the U.S. Department of Labor documenting how they allocate member dues. Both the national NEA and AFT have always had to comply, since they receive some dues from private sector employees, for example, when school districts contract with a unionized company, such as bus drivers or cafeteria workers. Only union affiliates located in states which have school districts operating under these sorts of contracts have previously had to disclose their financial records. Now, ruled the court, since some of that money flows up to the national unions and then back down into other states which may not have had such contracts, they can no longer claim exemption.

A recent report has shown that the national NEA spent $9.2 million on lobbying for education reform and financial issues in 2007. The further visibility of state affiliate finances will allow union members to see the real distribution of their dues between local, state, and national affiliates and give the public a better understanding of who and what those funds are buying.