Randi Weingarten kept American children locked out of school for two years while quietly lobbying the CDC to keep them there.
Now Microsoft has handed her something that reaches into every classroom in America.
What she built into that agreement should alarm every parent in America.
Microsoft Gives Teachers Union Legal Control Over AI in Every School District
On September 9, Microsoft announced a legally enforceable partnership with Weingarten's American Federation of Teachers – a deal Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company will "extend to every school district across the country."
The agreement hands AFT oversight of Microsoft's AI tools in classrooms nationwide – covering safety standards, privacy rules, and content required to be "accessible and fair" under an "equity" and "inclusion" provision Weingarten's union negotiated directly into the contract.
Every school district in America will be offered a Microsoft contract built around rules Weingarten's union helped write – and parents had no seat at the table.
The Fair Election Fund, a conservative watchdog, fired off a letter to Sen. Ted Cruz demanding congressional oversight.
"The company is once again using its reach in American classrooms to advance a partisan agenda, shaping how the next generation thinks, what they trust, and how they vote," the group wrote to Cruz.
The letter accused Microsoft and the AFT of bypassing White House AI guidance "to entrench their own ideological standards in American classrooms."
Randi Weingarten Rewrote CDC School Closure Rules During COVID and Now She Controls AI
This is not the first time Weingarten has rewritten federal policy to serve her union's agenda.
During COVID, AFT officials submitted language directly to the CDC – language that was incorporated into the agency's February 2021 school reopening guidance.
Congressional investigators confirmed the CDC gave Weingarten's union what they called "uncommon access" in shaping its school reopening guidance.
The result: American children stayed home while Weingarten's union collected political favors from the Democrats it bankrolled.
Fox News reported the AFT funnels approximately 99% of its campaign contributions to Democrats every election cycle.
In the 2022 cycle alone, AFT and its affiliates spent $20 million on political donations, with nearly all of it flowing to Democrats and liberal groups, according to House Oversight Committee testimony.
Moms for Liberty reviewed the Microsoft-AFT agreement and said it "falls short of what is needed to truly protect children."
"At Moms for Liberty, we believe parents, not union leaders, must hold all the keys to the AI toolbox," the organization said, per the Daily Signal.
The deal takes effect November 1 – with or without parental approval.
How Microsoft Lied to Ted Cruz About Conservative Censorship in Schools
Microsoft has already run this playbook with Ted Cruz – and got caught.
When Cruz called out Microsoft in late 2024 for funding NewsGuard's "media literacy" program in schools – a tool that rated conservative outlets like The Federalist, The Daily Wire, and Newsmax as "unreliable" – Microsoft claimed it had cut ties.
It hadn't.
For months after assuring Cruz the relationship was over, Microsoft kept recommending NewsGuard to students through its education products as a trusted fact-checker, according to the Daily Wire.
Only after the Fair Election Fund caught the company red-handed did Microsoft scrub all references from its website.
Now the same company – the one that lied to a U.S. Senator about censoring conservative news in schools – is asking America to trust it with something far bigger.
Brad Smith didn't just promise to roll this out – he promised to push it to every school district in America.
"A corporation that has already lied to Congress and partnered with a union president who has consistently weaponized her position for political ends should not be trusted to set the terms for how AI shapes young American minds and influences elections," the Fair Election Fund wrote.
Cruz chairs the Senate Commerce Committee.
He has the power to stop this – and the clock is already running.
Sources:
- Leif Le Mahieu, "Microsoft Cedes AI Oversight To Far-Left Teachers Union," Daily Wire, September 15, 2026.
- "American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten Testifies to Uncommon Influence Over CDC School Reopening Guidance," House Oversight Committee, April 26, 2023.
- "What Randi Weingarten's DNC Exit Reveals About Obnoxious Teachers' Union-Democrat Alliance," Fox News, June 27, 2025.
- "Microsoft Told Ted Cruz It Had Nothing To Do With NewsGuard. Then It Scrubbed Its Website," Daily Wire, November 2025.
- "Parents Intentionally Left Out of AI Strategy Discussions Between Microsoft and Left-Leaning Teachers Union," Daily Signal, September 13, 2026.