The NJEA has long had the highest dues in the nation, but now by an even larger margin. NJEA leadership just hiked teachers’ annual dues to $1,082 from $1,038, a 4.2% increase. That’s up 8.2% over the past two years. The second-highest dues belong to the far-larger California Teachers Association (CTA) which increased their dues by 3.8% to $816, so NJEA dues are now 33% higher than CTA dues, up from 32% higher last year. On the other hand, perhaps recognizing the squeeze on households from inflation, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) kept their dues flat at $655. Of course, the CTA and MEA aren’t looking to use teachers’ dues to fund a gubernatorial run by their union president the way NJEA is. That NJEA-backed Super PAC primed to spend $35 million to support NJEA President/gubernatorial candidate Sean Spiller will need money from somewhere.
Here’s the data for 2024-25 dues for NJEA, CTA, NEA-Alaska*, MEA and the Massachusetts Teachers Association. (NJEA, CTA, NEA-Alaska, and MEA have long been in the top five, and we added Massachusetts because it is a state to which the NJEA often compares New Jersey’s public education system). Here’s the data:
- New Jersey: $1,082
- CTA: $816
- NEA-Alaska: $806
- MEA: $655
- Massachusetts TA: $556
The NJEA’s national parent, the National Education Association (NEA), also increased its dues to $213, or 2.4%, so here is an estimate of the 2024-25 total dues burden for a full-time New Jersey teacher:
- NJEA: $1,082
- NEA: $213
- Local association**: $185
- County association**: $45
- TOTAL: $1,525
$1,525 is a lot of money for a New Jersey teacher, who on average earns $81,102 a year. It’s even more for a beginning teacher who earns less than $60,000 a year.
Then again, it costs a lot of money to fund the personal political ambitions of an NJEA president who wants to be governor. NJEA leadership has already given $8 million to Spiller’s personal Super PAC (Protecting Our Democracy), and is looking to spend another $35 million via a newly created NJEA-backed Super PAC (Working New Jersey). That money has to come from somewhere.
* NEA-Alaska dues were $745 for 2022-23. To give a sense of what its dues were in 2024-25 to compare to the NJEA, we increased the 2022-23 dues by 8.3% — the same percentage that NJEA dues were increased — to $806.
** NJEA dues have historically comprised 70% of total dues; NEA 15%; local 12%; and county 3%. We used the 12% figure to back into the $185 amount for local dues and the 3% figure for county dues, both of which vary across the state.