AFT head Randi Weingarten makes over $560,000 per year, 9 times average teacher salary, records show

The head of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Randi Weingarten makes over half a million dollars per year in her job – more than nine times the average teachers salary in the U.S.

In 2019, Weingarten received a salary of $489,844 along with $74,392 in other compensation, bringing her total haul for the year to $564,236, according to the AFT's Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for that year, the most recent year available. 

The median salary for public high school teachers was $62,870, as of May 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For preschool, elementary, middle, secondary, and special education teachers, the median salary was $58,550, according to the BLS. 

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The AFT did not respond to Fox News' request for comment on whether Weingarten's high salary is justified by her work.

Weingarten came under fire on Wednesday when she claimed that Republicans were "bullying" teachers out of teaching "honest history" about race while speaking during a livestream event headlined by controversial author Ibram X. Kendi.

"There are legislators, mostly from the Republican party, who are currently bullying teachers and trying to stop us from teaching kids honest history," Weingarten said, referring to Republican opposition to critical race theory in schools. 

"Look, maybe they are just trying to raise the temperature on race relations because of the next election," she continued.

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Teachers' unions across the country have come under fire over the past year for repeatedly throwing up obstacles to reopening schools for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Weingarten has recently rebranded herself as a staunch proponent of reopening schools. 

Fox News' Jon Michael Raasch contributed reporting