The American Federation of Teachers submitted its annual LM-2 financial disclosure report to the U.S. Department of Labor yesterday, and eyes immediately opened upon seeing $1.15 million in payments to The Atlantic Monthly.

RiShawn Biddle has already done the deep dive into the numbers, but AFT reports the entirety of that sum was for event sponsorships. The ones AFT underwrote in 2016 appear to be an LGBTQ summit and the “We the People” series, which were gatherings covering a broad spectrum of politics and civics. The Atlantic also has guidelines for its events which seem to adequately address the potential for undue influence.

Taken all together, I’m not concerned that union cash grants are twisting minds among reporters and the general public. However, the amount of money AFT sent to The Atlantic for events exceeded the amount it sent to many of its own affiliates. I wonder if local members and officers feel they could have put that million dollars to better use.

Read the full article by Mike Antonucci about education financials from The 74