New ELEC Report: All-Politics-All-the-Time NJEA Spent the Most on Lobbying. By Far.
Posted On03/14/2023 byThank goodness, Gov. Murphy wasn’t able to gut the independence of the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC)! The invaluable ELEC has come out with another of its reports, this time on lobbying expenditures from 2000-2022. Because ELEC deals in hard data, these reports reveal the true state of political spending in New Jersey: once again, New…Read More
Governor Murphy, Your Learning Loss Tutoring Plan Is Failing. What Are You Going To Do About It?
Posted On03/09/2023 byWe already know that, due to COVID-related school closures, New Jersey had some of the worst learning loss in the nation. Fewer than half of New Jersey students were proficient in ELA and only 35% in math on last year’s state tests. As a result, tens of thousands of New Jersey high school students are…Read More
NJ Public Education Coalition: the NJEA’s Dark Money and Shadowy Network of Allies Try to Intimidate School Boards
Posted On03/07/2023 byThe plot thickens. Now we see two shadowy progressive organizations join together to fight parents who have challenged the NJEA’s progressive agenda, especially those parents elected to school boards. All signs point to the dark money behind this combined effort coming from the NJEA. Apparently, unable to get teachers involved in its school board fights,…Read More
Gov. Murphy’s FY2024 Budget: Nice Talking Points for a White House Run, But Not Much More
Posted On03/03/2023 byWith Gov. Murphy’s proposed budget in the news, Sunlight thought we should provide our brief take on it. We thought columnist Charlie Stile had it about right: Murphy’s budget is “less about New Jersey and more about polishing his White House appeal.” Just so. Record state government spending. Again. Murphy’s FY2024 (July 2023 to June…Read More
NJEA Continues to Pump Millions of Teachers’ Dues Into Dark Money PACs Supporting Gov. Murphy
Posted On03/02/2023 byKudos to Ashley Balcerzak and northjersey.com for continuing their excellent work on Gov. Murphy’s dark-money Super PAC, Stronger Fairer Forward, widely believed to be aimed at a potential White House run. Not only have they scoured federal records, they apparently have someone who has access to the NJEA’s contribution records and is willing to leak them. This…Read More
A New NJEA Executive Director Takes Over: Large HQ Staff Cuts, Boosting Membership Is Top Priority
Posted On02/27/2023 bySunlight learned some interesting facts from the NJEA’s interview with incoming Executive Director Kevin Kelleher: NJEA headquarters staff has shrunk dramatically; Kelleher and the NJEA’s first priority is boosting membership; and, relatedly, a continued focus on member’s values and priorities. All arrows point to declining NJEA membership. NJEA Headquarters staff cut by -27%: The NJEA’s…Read More
Fewer Teachers Are Joining the NJEA’s Parent Union; What Is the NJEA’s Actual Membership Level?
Posted On02/21/2023 byThe National Education Association (NEA) is the NJEA’s parent organization and the largest labor union in the nation. But absent mergers the NEA has actually lost members, which would align with Sunlight’s thesis that the NJEA has also lost members. Of course, the NJEA hides its actual membership level, so we are forced to infer…Read More
Governor Murphy, Amid Signs of NJDOE Failure, Where Is Your Update on Your Plan to Remediate Learning Loss?
Posted On02/16/2023 byGov. Murphy’s Department of Education (NJDOE) looks like its failing on multiple fronts, yet Murphy has nothing to say about it. The always attentive NJEdReport published a piece yesterday entitled “New Analysis Shows New Jersey Is Failing the Reading Test,” describing a new study that found that NJDOE has failed in promoting literacy programs in…Read More
Most States Are Reducing Tax Rates; Gov. Murphy Raised Tax Rates to Increase Government Spending
Posted On02/03/2023 byThanks to Gov. Murphy and his accommodation of tax-thirsty government unions — who also happen to be his biggest political supporters — New Jersey continues to be a negative outlier when it comes to taxes. Last week Sunlight reported on New Jersey’s exceptionally high corporate tax rate and how a faux-coalition of government unions and…Read More
NJEA President/Montclair Mayor/2025 Gubernatorial Hopeful Sean Spiller Is in Hot Water Again
Posted On01/31/2023 byNJEA President/Montclair Mayor/2025 gubernatorial hopeful Sean Spiller again finds himself in hot water, as explained by this recent Star-Ledger news report. Spiller has been named in a lawsuit filed by Montclair’s CFO, which claims that Spiller retaliated against her after she questioned certain business practices in Spiller’s administration. Sunlight believes it is beyond our purview…Read More