The GOP primary is about to begin in Iowa, and it’s a contest between a man who talks about himself, and a man who solves problems. One BIG problem in this country is teacher unions. Teacher unions collect mandatory dues from teachers, and they use those to advocate for far-left policies. But in Florida, DeSantis made a plan, and he executed that plan. And now the results are here.

Here’s the latest from Florida Voice:

As much as 60% of Miami-Dade public school educators could be withheld from representation after the state’s largest teachers union failed to meet membership requirements under state law.

United Teachers of Dade, the largest union in the country, reportedly did not meet the required threshold after some teachers opted out of paying membership dues.

[…]Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, SB 256 mandates a union must apply for recertification if its membership dues fail to reach 60%. According to a report, UTD’s membership dues reached 58.4%.

[…]Under the law, unions are barred from directly withdrawing funds from public employee paychecks. An employee, such as a teacher, also must opt into a union to send payments.

SB 256 is a DeSantis bill. Passed by the legislators he helped to elect. And so when it got to his desk, he signed it.

“If United Teachers of Dade spent half as much time paying attention to their members’ interests as they have been pushing a political agenda with Randi Weingarten and running for office with Charlie Crist, they probably wouldn’t even be in this position,” Freedom Foundation Director or Labor Relations Allison Beattie said.

[…]“We were approached this summer by a number of teachers in Miami-Dade County who were unhappy seeing their hard-earned paychecks going into the pockets of union officers while those same officers have consistently negotiated away pay and benefits,” Beattie said.

[…]“We’re not surprised UTD couldn’t make the 60 percent threshold, because they’ve lost focus of their mission – representing rank and file teachers,” Beattie continued. “The union sends 46 percent of its budget to unions like the AFL-CIO, National Education Association, and Randi Weingarten.”

This is a historic win for conservatives:

According to the Freedom Foundation, United Teachers of Dade’s fracture is the largest decertified vote in American history.

How did DeSantis get the teachers to want to opt out of paying union dues? Well, Florida is a right-to-work state, so workers don’t have to join a union in order to work. They have the freedom to work without having to join a union. If they think that the union provides value worth their dues, then they can join and pay the dues. Traditionally, labor unions have pressured employers for higher pay. And that’s where the genius of Ron DeSantis can be seen. He has been taking away the need for teacher unions by paying teachers very well. That’s why the enrollment in unions has come down in Florida. This is wonderful for conservatives, because teacher unions are major proponents of every secular left policy you can imagine. Not just on fiscal issues, but on social issues, and foreign policy.

This article from Fox News explains why teacher unions are bad:

Universal school choice made significant gains in 2023 when a wave of red states passed legislation. Now, more states are looking to join the fold next year, a phenomenon called a “school choice revolution.”

American Federation For Children Senior Fellow Corey DeAngelis told Fox News Digital recently to look out for more states passing universal school choice legislation because a sea change is underway.

[…]DeAngelis added that school choice is difficult to pass in traditionally blue states like California, Illinois, and New York because the Democratic Party is “owned by the teachers union.”

“You look at Randi Weingarten, the American Federation of Teachers, in 2022, according to Open Secrets, 99.97% of the contributions from Randi’s AFT went to Democrats as opposed to independents or Republicans,” DeAngelis said.

He explained further, “It’s basically an elaborate money laundering scheme where the Democrats funnel the money to the government schools and then the teachers unions take that money and they give it back to the Democratic Party. It’s a nonstop wash, rinse, repeat money laundering scheme where the teachers unions are basically an arm of the Democratic Party at this point.”

When Donald Trump was president for four years, he did absolutely nothing to take on teacher unions. Ron DeSantis is doing it now. If he loses the GOP primary, he’ll keep on fighting teacher unions. But if he wins, he’ll be fighting teacher unions at the federal level, in all 50 states. We can have that, if we vote wisely.