Education

New players reshape education policy as Oklahoma teacher unions rank 50th nationally

June 3, 2026

Ray Carter

While teachers’ unions were once the driving force behind any education policy enacted at the state level in both Oklahoma and nationwide, today a wide range of groups are impacting those debates, including everyone from parents’ organizations to reformers to business groups, according to a new study.

The report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, “A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026,” shows that teacher unions are no longer necessarily the most powerful voice in the room when education issues are debated in many states, thanks to the growth of other education-focused entities.

“As one indicator, the number of national, state, and local organizations that joined the Policy Innovators in Education Network grew from approximately 30 groups in 2012 to more than 180 groups today,” wrote Amber M. Northern and Michael J. Petrilli in their foreword to the report. “State-level reform groups are now active in almost every state. Thus, when state lawmakers debate education policy legislation, unions are no longer necessarily the most informed or powerful organizations to show up, testify, and lobby for their desired outcomes.”

The groups that have reduced teacher-union dominance in state education debates include new “parent groups, voucher advocacy organizations, individual policy entrepreneurs, and national groups,” according to Fordham researchers.

The Fordham report is based on 59 measures of union strength in five key areas: resources and membership, involvement in politics, labor and bargaining policies, policy wins and losses, and perceived influence.

The report concluded that teachers’ unions in Oklahoma have less clout than their counterparts in every state except Arkansas. And, overall, unions have lost clout in most states in recent years.

“Though it may sound fanciful to education reformers in Chicago, where the teacher union is as militant and powerful as ever, overall the data suggest that teacher unions are weaker than they were a decade ago,” the Fordham Institute report states.

Teacher union power is notably intertwined with the Democratic Party nationwide.

Of the 10 states with the strongest teacher unions, eight had Democratic trifectas in 2024—Democratic leadership in the governor’s office and both legislative chambers. Moreover, 13 of the 15 states with the strongest unions voted for the Democratic candidate in the 2024 presidential election.

But in 46 of 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, the percentage of teachers belonging to unions has declined since 2012. And, proportionally speaking, teacher unions’ contributions to state-level political parties have decreased in 34 states.

Less than one-third of respondents to the institute’s survey listed the state teacher union as the most influential actor in education debates.

“In other words, other groups—governors, business coalitions, parent organizations, education reform advocates, or legislative leaders—are now perceived to be equally or more influential than teacher unions,” the report stated.

Oklahoma ranked 34th in the share of public-school teachers who are union members, and Oklahoma’s National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) state affiliates ranked 40th in total yearly revenue per teacher, adjusted for state cost-of-living differences.

Oklahoma ranked 39th relative to how much teacher unions contribute for every dollar donated to state-level candidates by the state’s top 10 business interests.

However, the political decline of teachers’ unions has not meant Oklahoma’s public education system is being neglected. Instead, the Fordham Institute found that Oklahoma is now in the top half of the country—23rd—for the share of the annual general budget spent on K–12 education. Oklahoma also ranked 35th for the average salary of public-school teachers, far above the bottom-of-the-barrel stereotype commonly touted. When adjusted for cost-of-living differences, the pay of Oklahoma teachers typically ranks even higher.

Those gains have occurred even as Oklahoma has also embraced statewide school-choice, including everything from open transfer between public-school districts to private-school choice.