Gov. Murphy, Using Bonds to Pay Down Pension Debt Is Essentially Another POB Deal
Posted OnSeptember 15, 2020 byJon Reitmeyer of NJSpotlight writes that State Treasury officials support the idea of issuing $4 billion in bonds so the State can make a $4.9 billion pension contribution ($4.2 billion of which is making up for past pension underfunding). The idea is apparently that the State can borrow at 2% (at an annual cost of…Read More
“For the Many NJ” – A New Coalition with the Same Unions and Progressive Allies
Posted OnSeptember 9, 2020 byIt is difficult to keep up with the various coalitions of public-sector unions and their progressive allies. They pop up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. The newest iteration is “For the Many NJ” (they always have catchy names that disguise their true nature), which has inserted itself into this year’s budget discussions. As presented in…Read More
Municipal Bond Market Study: NJ Ranks 49th in Nation in Creditworthiness
Posted OnSeptember 8, 2020 byBarron’s published a study by mutual fund manager Eaton Vance that ranked the states by creditworthiness (in other words how risky it is to lend money to NJ) and New Jersey was 49th out of 50 states, trailing only broke Illinois. This is no surprise, given that NJ also has the second-lowest bond rating of…Read More
NJ Education Aid: More Shoddy, Misleading Research from NJ Policy Perspective
Posted OnSeptember 8, 2020 byThe BuryPensions blog tells it like it is. Based on some excellent new research by New Jersey Education Aid entitled “New Jersey Policy Perspective Misleads on Pensions,” Bury had this to say: “But when a think-tank getting similar NJEA money puts out worse propaganda it gets accepted by other media outlets that choose to disseminate…Read More
NJBIA’s Siekerka Is on Target: Gov. Murphy’s $4.9 billion for Pensions Is Throwing Good Money after Bad
Posted OnSeptember 4, 2020 byNew Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) president Michelle Siekerka penned an op-ed in NJ Spotlight today that made several excellent points. Among them: Cut the fiscal year 2021 public employee pension contribution: “we should remind ourselves that whatever dollar figure is settled on will still go toward a broken and unsustainable system, which will…Read More
NJ Public Schools Keep Top Ranking – Largely Due to How Much NJ Spends on Schools
Posted OnSeptember 3, 2020 byAt SPCNJ, we like to think we give credit where it is due, and so we congratulate the New Jersey public school system for gaining the top spot in Education Week’s “Quality Schools” ranking – edging out Massachusetts for the second year in a row. Overall, both NJ (87.3) and MA (86.7) got the…Read More
NJ Is Number One in the Nation … for Outmigration of Households During COVID
Posted OnSeptember 1, 2020 byNot good news for NJ. Despite all the recent headlines about New York City residents fleeing to the NJ suburbs during the COVID pandemic, it turns out that from March to July of 2020, seven out of ten households that are moving to or from NJ are LEAVING the state. According to a Bloomberg/United Van…Read More
The NJEA Makes Its Bullying Explicit in a Letter to Superintendents: Shut Down Schools or Else …
Posted OnAugust 28, 2020 bySunlight Policy Center of New Jersey received a copy of a letter sent by a NJEA county association president to the superintendents in the county. The letter confirms what Jon Reitmeyer of NJ Spotlight reported on yesterday (addressed by SPCNJ in this blog): the NJEA and its members are actively seeking to block in-person instruction…Read More
The NJEA Wants All-Remote Learning but Will It Support Right-Sizing Staffs and Budgets?
Posted OnAugust 27, 2020 byNorthJersey.com’s Terrence McDonald reported that several school districts are having to shift to all-remote instruction because teachers are threatening to take paid leave, leaving the districts without enough staff to open schools. McDonald noted that the NJEA had “already chalked up a win this month when Gov. Murphy reversed course and said he would allow…Read More
Star-Ledger’s Mulshine: More Debt Hurts Future Generations; More Taxes Means More Outmigration
Posted OnAugust 27, 2020 byThe Star-Ledger’s Paul Mulshine nails it. Governor Murphy’s proposed budget borrows $4 billion and increases taxes by another $1 billion. Borrowing money to pay for current costs like the pension payment or a budget surplus just shifts these costs to future generations – our kids and grandkids. And expanding the millionaire’s tax and adding…Read More