AFT Pennsylvania

The American Federation of Teachers – Pennsylvania is the Pennsylvania state-level affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a member union of the AFL-CIO. ¹ It claims to represent more than 36,000 members, including teachers and other public-school employees in K-12 and higher education, health care providers, and state employees. ¹

At-A-Glance

Type: Labor Union, Public Sector Union

Issue Areas: Education Policy

Website: pa.aft.org

President:

Arthur Steinberg

President’s Compensation (2022):

$38,132 ²

Location: Plymouth Meeting, PA

Tax ID: 25-1035208

Most Recent Filing: 2025

Budget (2025): Assets: $5,229,971 Revenue: $2,605,472 Expenses: $2,280,595

Contents

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers is the largest local union affiliated with AFT Pennsylvania, with its more than 13,000 members in the School District of Philadelphia making up roughly one-third of the statewide union’s membership. ³

In 2022, AFT Pennsylvania president Arthur Steinberg was elected vice president of the national American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union. ⁴

Political Program

AFT Pennsylvania operates a political action committee (PAC) to provide donations to political candidates and ballot measures. ⁵ It reported spending $158,992.86 in regulated campaign expenditures in 2024 and $38,678.75 in 2023. ⁶

In 2022, AFT Pennsylvania’s PAC received $350,000 from the national American Federation of Teachers COPE super PAC, while also donating $250,000 to the gubernatorial campaign of then-state Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D). ⁶

Advocacy

Opposition to Lifeline Scholarships

In June 2023, AFT Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO were among several unions that signed a letter addressed to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) stating their opposition to his proposed “Lifeline Scholarship Program” or an educational choice program meant to fund private school tuition and expenses for students. ⁷ ⁸ ⁸ ⁹ In August 2023, Shapiro removed the program funding from the proposed state budget. ⁷

Later in 2024, musician and record company executive Jay-Z announced that his company Roc Nation would be funding advertisements in Philadelphia in support of school choice programs. ¹⁰ AFT Pennsylvania released social media posts criticizing Jay-Z in response, claiming he was inadvertently helping conservative philanthropist and school choice advocate Jeffrey Yass. ¹¹

COVID-19 Impact

The School District of Philadelphia closed its schools to in-person instruction on March 13, 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) opposed planned efforts to reopen the school district for students and faculty by August 2020, and later efforts to reopen by November 2020, February 2021, and even fall 2021. ¹²

Part of the union’s demand to reopen the school district was to ensure that all teachers and staff members were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. ¹³ After reports of failing academic standards due to internet-based learning, the state guidance changed in January 2021 to allow schools to reopen within the district by March of that year. ¹³

By early 2021, a letter written by the then-PFT president to the Philadelphia school district was released where the president state that, “it seems foolish to attempt a reopening without…vaccination.” ¹³

AFT Pennsylvania president Arthur Steinberg responded to the letter by claiming the union’s demands for vaccinations were “one more step in a multi-layered process” and that “it was never a prerequisite for occupying buildings.” ¹³

Financial Statistics

Total Assets

Total Revenue

Total Expenses

Year	Total Assets	Total Revenue	Total Expenses	Filing
2025	$5,229,971	$2,605,472	$2,280,595	View
2024	$4,316,939	$2,503,386	$2,221,869	View
2023	$3,925,457	$2,383,047	$1,914,600	View
2022	$3,450,135	$2,410,510	$1,891,648	View
2021	$3,007,663	$2,437,901	$1,734,033	View
2020	$2,184,614	$2,426,686	$2,022,084	View

Revenue Detail

Expenses Detail

Employee Compensation

Number of Employees: 9

Highest Earning Employees

Employee	Title	Total Compensation
Walt Michalski	STAFF REPRESENTATIVE	$128,152
Carol Mintus	STAFF REPRESENTATIVE	$127,604
Sarah Robbins	EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR	$118,165
Cyndi Bolden	VICE PRESIDENT AT-LARGE	$113,779
Nina Esposito-Vigitis	EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT	$111,791
Jim Rihel	STAFF REPRESENTATIVE	$111,251
Krisann Selbst	STAFF REPRESENTATIVE	$107,987
Jeffrey Coyne	DIRECTOR OF GOV. AND POLITICAL	$104,265
Syed Adnan	STAFF REPRESENTATIVE	$98,665
Jerry T Jordan	ASSISTANT TREASURER	$47,741
Art Steinberg	PRESIDENT	$45,406
Suzanne Cathline	PHILADELPHIA VICE PRESIDENT	$43,859
Ed Olsen	PHILADELPHIA VICE PRESIDENT	$42,321
Denise Rogers	ASSISTANT SECRETARY	$37,999
LeSHAWNA COLEMAN	TREASURER	$35,756
Wendy G Coleman	SECRETARY	$22,846
Hillary Linardopoulos	LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE	$22,517
Trina Dean	VICE PRESIDENT AT-LARGE	$17,641
Tara Huber	SOUTHEAST VICE PRESIDENT	$15,147

Grant Activity

All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:

Total Grant Value: $50,000
Number of Grants: 1
Number of Funders: 1

Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:

Amount	Year	Funder	Subject
$50,000	2021	American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation	INNOVATION FUND SUPPORT

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Financials, employee compensation, and grant information provided by Candid.

Mentioned in this Article

References

1. “About Us.” AFT Pennsylvania. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://pa.aft.org/about-us.

2. “American Federation of Teachers – Pennsylvania.” ProPublica, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/251035208.

3. “About the PFT.” Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.pft.org/about-the-pft.

4. “Arthur G. Steinberg.” American Federation of Teachers, September 2022. https://www.aft.org/about/leadership/arthur-g-steinberg.

5. Committee Information – AFT-PENNSYLVANIA.” Pennyslvania Department of State, 2024. https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/ElectionInfo/CommitteeInfo.aspx?ID=1291.

6. “Candidate / Committee Campaign Finance Profile: AFT-PENNSYLVANIA.” Pennsylvania Department of State, 2024. https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/Pages/CFAnnualTotals.aspx?Filer=2000190.

7. Sitrin, Carly. “‘Unfinished Business.’ Shapiro Ends Budget Impasse and Vetoes State Voucher Program.” Chalkbeat, August 3, 2023. https://www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia/2023/8/3/23819164/governor-shapiro-pennsylvania-signs-budget-vetoes-school-voucher-program-republicans-democrats/.

8. Hall, Alexander. “Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro Defends School Choice: ‘every Child of God’ Deserves ‘Quality Education.’” Fox News, June 23, 2023. https://www.foxnews.com/media/pennsylvania-gov-defends-school-choice-every-child-god-deserves-quality-education.

9. “Joint Letter on Tuition Voucher Plans.” The Pennsylvania State Education Association , June 22, 2023. https://www.psea.org/issues-action/action-center/voucher-letter/.

10. “Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to Drum up Support for Private School Vouchers in Philadelphia.” NBC10 Philadelphia, June 12, 2024. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/jay-zs-roc-nation-drum-up-support-private-school-vouchers-philadelphia/3883011/

11. James, Faye. “Jay-Z’s Incredibly Generous Gift to School Children Revealed.” HELLO!, June 12, 2024. https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/674997/jay-zs-incredibly-generous-gift-to-school-children-revealed/.

12. Wolfman-Arent, Avi. “District, Teachers Union Reach Deal to Reopen Some Philly School Buildings.” WHYY, March 1, 2021. https://whyy.org/articles/district-teachers-union-reach-deal-to-reopen-some-philly-school-buildings/.

13. Wolfman-Arent, Avi. “Philly’s Youngest Kids Are Falling behind during the Pandemic, New Data Shows.” WHYY, February 6, 2021. https://whyy.org/articles/phillys-youngest-students-are-suffering-the-most-academically-new-data-shows/.