So much for the myth that teacher unions are good for children.

This WSJ scatter plot is a stunner.  Teacher union control across states is negatively associated with literacy across states:

Education reform advocate Rachel Canter explains:

States dominated by Democrats have been slower to embrace similar reforms. Of the 18 key early literacy policies tracked by ExcelinEd, a national, nonpartisan organization for education policy and advocacy, blue states have adopted 9, on average, compared with about 13.5 for purple and red states, as of February 2026…

When my colleagues and I compared the Fordham teachers union strength ranking to ExcelinEd’s early literacy tracker, we found a strong, negative correlation between the two – the more powerful the unions, the fewer literacy policy principles the state had adopted.