Deb Cornavaca, the NJEA and Gov. Murphy: A Revolving Door of Special-Interest Influence
Posted On05/18/2022 byWell, well, well, as night follows day, a NJEA political organizer cycles into the Murphy administration as a senior officer and then cycles right back to the NJEA. Murphy’s Deputy Chief of Staff Deborah Cornavaca is leaving to become the NJEA’s Director of Government Relations. Recall that Cornavaca was an NJEA political organizer before she…Read More
Harvard Study: NJ Among the States with the Most School Closures and Learning Loss. What Will Gov. Murphy Do About It?
Posted On05/17/2022 byWhile the NJEA wants to claim that learning loss did not really occur, a new study by Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research sheds some much-needed light on the severity of learning loss due to pandemic-related school closures. While the authors passed no judgments on whether a state’s COVID policies were justified, their conclusions were…Read More
Once Again, New Jersey Ranks Among the States with the Very Highest Property Taxes
Posted On05/10/2022 byThe Tax Foundation shared its property tax rankings today, and Sunlight thought it made sense to reconfirm what kind of property-tax burden New Jersey taxpayers are bearing. For 2022, New Jersey was 44th among the 50 states, and has been 44th or worse since 2019 (see chart below). The Tax Foundation evaluates state and local taxes…Read More
NJ’s Public Pensions Remain at Risk Because There Are Fewer Active Workers Per Retiree; So Taxpayers Will Pay More
Posted On05/06/2022 byA brief addendum to Sunlight’s blog on Tuesday about how the teachers’ pension fund (TPAF) is still at risk despite record contributions by Gov. Murphy. The ever-vigilant BuryPensions provided some additional words (data) of warning about the condition of New Jersey’s public pensions. Bury’s data shows that from 2000 to 2021, the number of retirees has…Read More
Despite Record State Contributions, the Teachers’ Pension Plan Is Still Structurally Unsound and at Risk
Posted On05/03/2022 byNew Jersey’s Division of Pension and Benefits came out with the actuarial report for the state’s public pensions. Because of record pension contributions from the state and most importantly record investment returns of over 28%, the condition of New Jersey’s pensions improved. But New Jersey’s pensions are not out of the woods. First, the actuarial…Read More
More Unpleasant Facts for the Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran: NJ’s Population Actually Declined in 2021
Posted On04/29/2022 byA couple of weeks ago, Sunlight pushed back on the Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran’s claim that New Jersey’s outmigration problem was a “fantasy. We pointed out that, yes, New Jersey’s population might have grown slightly, but the key metric was New Jersey’s massive net outmigration to other states not simply overall population growth. New Jersey’s population…Read More
ALEC’s “Rich States, Poor States”: NJ’s Economic Outlook Is 49th Out of 50 States While Our Governor Eyes the White House
Posted On04/26/2022 bySunlight recently published a research report entitled “Before You Go, Governor Murphy … There is Some Unfinished Business in the Garden State” where we remind our governor that before he leaves for the presidential campaign trail, there are four major problems he has not addressed: 1) student learning loss from pandemic school closures; 2) an…Read More
The NJEA Proudly Boasts About Its Quid Pro Quo Relationship with Gov. Murphy
Posted On04/22/2022 byAs our readers are well aware, Sunlight’s mission is to shine a light on the special-interest-domination of New Jersey’s political system, led by the most powerful special interest of them all, the NJEA. Sunlight has also highlighted Gov. Murphy’s strong and unbending ties to the NJEA: the NJEA supports Murphy’s campaigns with millions of dollars…Read More
NJEA’s 2021 Financials: Leadership’s Pensions Very Secure; Super PAC Awash with Dues Money; Membership Declining
Posted On04/19/2022 bySunlight had a chance to look at the NJEA’s latest financial statements (for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2021) and there were some interesting nuggets of information: NJEA Leaderships pensions continue to be gold-plated and very secure. Sunlight did an extensive report on the NJEA leadership’s gold-plated, well-funded pensions – as contrasted with the…Read More
Wall Street Journal: Under Gov. Murphy, NJ Is Dead Last in COVID Outcomes, Confirming Sunlight’s Report
Posted On04/12/2022 byAs if confirming Sunlight’s latest report on Gov. Murphy’s unfinished business in New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal‘s lead editorial reported on a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) on COVID outcomes, which looked at states’ economic recoveries, education policies and mortality rates. Under Murphy, New Jersey came in DEAD LAST among…Read More