Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that the union would no longer be accept money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its Innovation fund. President Weingarten spoke at SXSWedu, stating that the union?s members has too many concerns regarding the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, which Weingarten said was worse than the Obamacare rollout. To keep the Innovation fund at its current levels dues would need to be raised by $0.05 per teacher, a request that Weingarten has passed onto the union?s executive council. Part of union member?s concern was the Gates Foundation?s emphasis on charter schools, expanding learning time, and other projects that members are not convinced will assist students? learning. Since 2009, the ATF Educational Foundation has received more than $5 million in grant dollars from the Gates Foundation.
See "Teachers union cites Common Core in decision to cut Gates funding", Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, March 11, 2014