Teachers unions are motivated more by self-interest than by student outcomes when choosing whether to endorse school board members for reelection, a recently published study found.

The Politics of Teachers’ Union Endorsements, authored by Michael T. Hartney and Vladimir Kogan, found that school board candidates endorsed by teachers unions win 70% of contested races. This figure has remained roughly consistent for the past two decades, the researchers said.

However, the study indicated that the motivations behind some teachers unions’ endorsements and why voters choose to trust these endorsements may not align. It noted that “contrary to voter beliefs, changes in student outcomes do not predict which candidates teachers unions ultimately endorse.”

“These decisions instead appear to be driven at least in part by self-interested considerations — with the local more likely to endorse sitting school board incumbents when the district recently provided teachers larger raises, particularly for the most experienced educators,” the researchers said. To illustrate this point, the researchers cited data from California. There, incumbent school board members are more likely to receive teachers union endorsements if salaries for senior educators increased during their time in office, according to the study.

“For an average district, the effect size corresponds to a 10 percentage point increase in the share of incumbents endorsed for a 10% increase in top-of-the-scale salaries,” the study determined.

However, the researchers found no firm evidence that greater student academic outcomes also lead to incumbent endorsements.

The study has sparked mixed reactions. Angela Morabito, a spokesperson for the Defense of Freedom Institute and a visiting fellow for the Independent Women’s Forum, said she is unsurprised by the findings.

“Teachers unions are, at their core, political institutions,” she said. “These unions are not there to help students learn, they are not there to help teachers teach. They are there for their own money and power.”

However, April Reisma, the president of the Arkansas Education Association, disagrees with Morabito’s sentiments. She said the process of teachers unions issuing endorsements can help build school boards with members who are there for the “right reasons.”

“And by ‘right reasons,’ I mean the ones that are there for, truly for student improvement and staff being able to have the autonomy to do their work and the ability to help those students thrive,” she said.

Reisma also applauded the high success rate of teachers union endorsements, saying voters can trust the endorsements because they’re “coming from an area of expertise.”

Such endorsements have the most positive impact on those who already have favorable views of teachers and labor unions, according to the study. Researchers determined there is a 10 percentage point increase in support among those who rate teachers favorably, compared to a nearly 20 point jump with those who rate labor unions well.

Have a news tip? Contact Kristina Watrobski at kwatrobski@sbgtv.com or at x.com/kbwatrobski.