JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Wednesday morning, federal agents from the FBI and IRS were seen leaving Duval Teachers United headquarters in San Marco with boxes of materials. Sources tell First Coast News the raid was financial in nature.
Those same sources tell First Coast News that a search warrant was used by federal agents to get the information they were looking for. Thursday afternoon calls to Duval Teachers United president Terrie Brady were not returned. When First Coast News went to DTU headquarters a receptionist said Ms. Brady would not be available today to answer questions about why federal agents raided the building.
However, DTU released a statement to First Coast News, which reads:
"We continue to be focused on upholding our mission of supporting our members and the students we serve. We are fully cooperating with authorities and anticipate a full and thorough assessment of the facts. To respect the integrity of the process we will not discuss any further details."
As of July 1st, 2023 Florida public employers are no longer allowed to electronically deduct union dues from paychecks of its members, rather they have to collect those dues from the employees directly. The text of the law can be read here.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed that law, but when asked Thursday morning about Wednesday's raid on DTU headquarters, the governor said he didn't have any extra information about the raid.
"I have no insight about that, as you guys know those are federal agencies, they're not something the state has control over or gets advance warning about the stuff they do. I saw the report but I don't know anything beyond that," said DeSantis.
First Coast News also reached out to Duval Public Schools about this situation. The district tells us the union is an independent private organization and the district has no information about what happened at Duval Teachers United headquarters on Wednesday.