Virginia’s Teacher Union Strength Profile

Virginia is among the nation’s “average” teacher unions in terms of strength. Relative to their counterparts in other states, they exhibit the most strength in Involvement in Politics (4th), followed by Labor and Bargaining Policies (21st), Policy Wins and Losses (23rd), Perceived Influence (34th), and Resources and Membership (45th).

Virginia ranks 45th in this area.

Indicator	Sub-indicator	Rank
Membership	Where does the state rank relative to the share of public-school teachers who are union members (in 2020–21)?	45th
	Where does the state rank relative to union membership among all employees (in 2024)?	36th (tie)
Vote share	Where does the state rank relative to the share of voters who are union members (in 2022)?	40th (tie)
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of voters who are both union members and employed in the educational services industry (in 2022)?	29th (tie)
Revenues	Where does the state rank in terms of its NEA and/or AFT affiliate’s total yearly revenue per teacher, adjusted using the NCES Comparable Wage Index (in 2023)?	41st
Teacher strikes	Where did the state rank in terms of the number of teacher strikes (between 2019 and 2024)?	11th (tie)
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of districts that engage in strikes (between 2019 and 2024)?	9th (tie)

Virginia ranks 4th in this area.

Indicator	Sub-indicator	Rank
Candidate endorsements	Where does the state rank relative to how many gubernatorial and down-ballot candidates the state teacher unions endorse (in the 2024 general election)?	42nd (tie)
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of teacher union-endorsed gubernatorial and down-ballot candidates who win (based on the 2024 general election)?	1st (tie)
Financial contributions to campaigns and political parties	Where does the state rank relative to the share of all contributions to state-level candidates that originate from teacher unions (between 2019 and 2024)?	3rd
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of all contributions to state-level political parties that originate from teacher unions (between 2019 and 2024)?	30th
	Where does the state rank relative to how much teacher unions contribute for every dollar donated to state-level candidates by the state’s top 10 business interests (between 2021 and 2023)?	40th (tie)
Political advertisements	Where does the state rank relative to how many state and local political ads teacher unions sponsor (in 2020 and 2022)?	3rd
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of state and local political ads that teacher unions sponsor (in 2020 and 2022)?	4th
	Where does the state rank relative to how much money teacher unions spend on state and local political ads (in 2020 and 2022)?	3rd
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of state and local political ad spending by teacher unions (in 2020 and 2022)?	5th

Virginia ranks 21st in this area.

Indicator	Sub-indicator	Data/Rank
Automatic revenue policies	Does state policy allow automatic payroll deductions (in 2025)?	Not in state policy
Scope of collective bargaining	Is collective bargaining prohibited, permitted, or required by the state if a majority of teachers vote for it (in 2025)?	Permitted
	Across 16 areas, where does the state rank relative to the strength of its collective bargaining law (in 2025)?	34th (tie)
Exemptions from collective bargaining	Are charter schools exempt from collective bargaining agreements (in SY 2018–19)?	No
Right to strike	Are teacher strikes legal (in 2025)?	No

Virginia ranks 23rd in this area.

Indicator	Sub-indicator	Data/Rank
K–12 spending	Where does the state rank by share of total annual K–12 spending devoted to teacher salaries and benefits (SY 2021–22)?	4th
	Where does the state rank relative to annual spending per pupil, adjusted using the NCES Comparable Wage Index (SY 2021–22)?	37th
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of the annual general budget spent on K–12 education (FY 2023)?	37th (tie)
Class size	Does state policy restrict K–12 class sizes (in 2024)?	Yes, in at least some grades
Teacher compensation	Where does the state rank by average salary of public-school teachers (SY 2023–24)?	26th
Merit pay	Does state policy require the use of teacher performance to determine compensation (in 2022)?	Encouraged or allowed
Teacher evaluations	Does the state allow teacher dismissal based on ineffectiveness (in 2025)?	Yes
	Does the state require use of student growth measures in teacher evaluations (in 2025)?	Yes, but the impact on the teacher evaluation is small or unspecified
Employment benefits	Where does the state rank in terms of its employer contribution rate to teacher retirement plans as a percentage of the payroll (in FY 2022)?	20th
	Does the state provide tenure protections for K–12 teachers (in 2023)?	Yes
Charter school enablers	Does the state allow charter schools (in 2025)?	Yes
	Does the state limit the number of charters granted (in 2025)?	No
	Does the state limit the types of charter schools allowed (in 2020)?	Yes, at least one type of charter school is prohibited
	Does the state allow multiple authorizers for charter schools (in 2025)?	Yes, with substantial restrictions
Charter school exemptions	Does the state automatically exempt charter schools from laws or regulations (in 2020)?	No, but they may apply for exemptions
	Does the state require certification for charter-school teachers (in 2020)?	Yes
Unionized charter schools	Where does the state rank relative to the share of charter schools that allow collective bargaining (in SY 2018–19)?	Tied for last (no collective bargaining in charters)
School choice and voucher policies	Does the state allow education savings accounts (ESAs) (in 2024)?	No
	Does the state allow tax-credit scholarships (in 2024)?	Yes, with few restrictions
	Does the state allow vouchers (in 2024)?	No
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of K–12 students who do not use a private educational choice program (in SY 2021–22)?	28th (tie)
	Where does the state rank relative to the share of K–12 students who attend traditional public schools (in SY 2021–22)?	39th

Virginia ranks 34th in this area.

Indicator		Rank
By rank, how do the state’s education policy leaders perceive teacher unions’ strength relative to...	Resources and membership (Area A)*	37th
	Involvement in politics (Area B)*	43rd
	Policy wins and losses (Area D)*	29th
	Overall power**	34th

Note: *Average response across five survey items related to constructs from the area indicated in parentheses.
**Average response across three survey items related to overall perceptions of union strength.

How did we calculate our rankings?

We constructed overall state rankings—as well as overall scores, area scores, and area rankings—through a multistep aggregation process that applied equal weighting across multiple levels. Consistent with the 2012 report, the equal-weighting approach reflects a methodological judgment that each dimension of union strength merits equivalent consideration in the overall ranking. The aggregation proceeded as follows:

Step 1: Standardization. We rescaled all sub-indicators to a consistent 0–4 scale, with higher values corresponding to greater union strength, so that we could combine sub-indicators with different original metrics (e.g., percentages, dollar amounts, survey responses).

Step 2: Indicator-level aggregation. For each indicator, we calculated the simple mean of all constituent sub-indicators within each state. This produced a single 0–4 score for each indicator in each state.

Step 3: Area-level aggregation. For each state, we calculated the simple mean of all indicators within each area. Each area accounts for 20 percent of the overall strength score, and that 20 percent is distributed evenly across the indicators in the area. In other words, within any area, each indicator’s weight equals 20 percent divided by the number of indicators in that area. The resulting area scores for each state allowed us to generate area-specific rankings.

Step 4: Overall strength scores. We calculated overall union strength by taking the simple mean of the five area scores for each state.

Step 5: Overall rankings. We rank state unions from strongest (highest overall strength score) to weakest (lowest overall strength score) based on their overall scores.