American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten doesn’t want people to know that she once expressed support for Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s (R.) school funding plan.
Weingarten deleted a tweet praising Ducey’s plan ahead of her visit to Arizona this week since she is now supporting a Democratic challenger to Ducey, Steve Farley. In January, she said Ducey's plan for K-12 education was "good news for Arizona."
"Good news for Arizona!" she tweeted. "Gov. Doug Ducey just said he plans to add $100 million in new K-12 education funding this year as a down-payment on the full restoration of a school capital funding formula that was slashed during the Great Recession."
After Weingarten deleted the tweet, the Farley Report, a news site affiliated with a Republican research firm, published a screenshot showing Weingarten’s erstwhile opinion.
For his part, Farley has attacked the Republican governor for his education positions.
"We won't improve K-12 education until we get rid of Doug Ducey," Farley wrote in a statement celebrating AFT’s endorsement.
Arizona's largest teachers’ union, the Arizona Education Association, endorsed Farley’s Democratic opponent, David Garcia.
Weingarten joined the "Red for Ed" rally in Arizona this week, in which teachers demonstrated for higher wages and went on strike. They reportedly gave up their strike and will return to work Thursday.
Ducey has expressed confusion at teachers’ unions' unrest in spite of his plan to give them raises.
"I don’t know why the leaders would say that they’re going to strike when we are delivering for the teachers on what we believe they deserve," Ducey said in a radio appearance. "Whatever the leaders in that movement are doing, I don’t think they’re really representing the teachers that are there for their kids every day, that are there for their parents."