Education Technology Companies and AFT/CFT

Submitted by the Labor and Climate Justice Education Committee and the Higher Educational Issues Committee

The resolution below was adopted by the State Council of CFT: A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals on October 4, 2025. 

Whereas since 2023, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has entered into “partnerships” with the education technology companies Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, including a plan to create a “National Academy for A.I. Instruction” run by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City; and

Whereas Microsoft is giving over $10 million dollars to AFT as part of a $4 billion campaign to “ensure that students in every school across the country have access to A.I. education”;  and

Whereas OpenAI described its $10 million donation to AFT as a means to enlist AFT members to introduce AI into their classrooms, or “equip 400,000 K-12 educators, about one in every 10 teachers in the US, to use AI and lead the way in shaping how AI is used and taught in classrooms across the country”; and

Whereas some AFT union locals received Innovation Grants from AFT during the 2024-25 school year to host trainings and workshops about A.I. in their school districts, and the funding for those grants may have originally come from education technology companies; and

Whereas Microsoft and OpenAI have served as financial “sponsors” or “co-sponsors” of events for AFT members related to A.I., including in Chicago in 2024 and Washington, DC in 2025; and

Whereas AFT President Randi Weingarten has publicly acknowledged in January, 2024 that “big tech tried to replace us”, particularly K-12 teachers’ aides, in the early 2000s and “they’re still trying”; and

Whereas AFT allows Microsoft and Khan Academy– which have created what they call an “AI-powered teaching assistant” for schools called “Khanmigo”– to post directly to AFT’s curriculum website for K- 12 teachers, ShareMyLesson.com; and

Whereas AFT’s choice to accept money from education technology companies has created a massive conflict of interest that undermines rank-and-file AFT members’ attempts to 1) prevent the introduction of untested A.I. tools into their classrooms and other workplaces, and 2) prevent the use of these tools to manage or replace librarians, teachers’ aides, teaching assistants, and even teachers; and

Whereas the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) House of Representatives and United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) Assembly both approved resolutions on September 17, 2025 stating that they “oppose AFT’s acceptance of $23 million (July 8, 2025) from Microsoft, Open AI, and Anthropic to create AFT’s ‘National Academy for AI Instruction’”;

Therefore, be it resolved that the CFT: A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals opposes the decision by AFT leaders to accept money from education technology companies; and

Be it further resolved that no CFT staff or elected officers shall accept any compensation from or participate in events sponsored by an education technology company, nor shall CFT staff or elected officers assist with or participate in any AFT initiative that is subsidized by an education technology company without executive council approval; and

Be it finally resolved that CFT calls upon AFT to provide full transparency to AFT members about AFT’s legal and financial partnerships with education technology companies.

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/technology/chatgpt-teachers-openai-microsoft.html
• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/business/microsoft-ai-education.html
• https://openai.com/global-affairs/aft/41
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2024/10/teachers-lead-the-way-in-co-creating-ai-solutions-that-empower-education/; https://openai.com/global-affairs/aft/
• https://campuslabor.blogspot.com/2025/08/AFT-EdTech-Partnerships.html
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2024/10/teachers-lead-the-way-in-co-creating-ai-solutions-that-empower-education/; https://openai.com/global-affairs/aft/