Sunlight Blog
Fact check: Despite Stellar Investment Returns, NJ’s Public Pensions Are Still in Crisis
Posted On08/13/2021 byThere’s lots of happy talk coming out of Trenton about the state of New Jersey’s public pensions. This plays very nicely into Gov. Murphy’s hands by providing a seemingly rational basis for Murphy’s decision to drop a whopping $6.9 billion (15% of the entire state budget) into public pensions. Unfortunately, the reality is that despite…Read More
Does NJEA President-elect/Montclair Mayor Spiller’s Pricey Fundraiser Portend a Run for Governor?
Posted On08/10/2021 bySunlight has been active on social media about NJEA President-elect/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller’s fundraiser for his dark-money Super PAC. We highlighted the pricey levels of sponsorship that are clearly meant to extract maximum dollars from deep-pocketed supporters as well as the use of a non-union facility for an event that was putatively honoring union leaders….Read More
Federal Money Shores Up NJ’s Budget, But Gov. Murphy Opts for Election-Year Spending Rather than a Sustainable Path
Posted On07/21/2021 byThe gusher of federal money has certainly been a boon to New Jersey as well as other states. This has had a number of positive ramifications, most importantly filling state coffers so that even perpetually in-deficit state governments like NJ’s are now running budgetary surpluses. This has allowed NJ to increase spending (in an election…Read More
It’s Confirmed: NJ Teachers Pay the Highest Dues in the Nation – By Far
Posted On07/19/2021 byThanks to the sleuthing of the Education Intelligence Agency, we now know for certain that the NJEA’s member dues are the highest in the nation – by a long shot. For the 2020-21 school year, EIA reports that NJ teachers paid $979 in dues, an eye-popping 28% higher than second-place Alaska. Here are the 2020-21…Read More
NJEdReport: Gov. Murphy Takes Care of His NJEA Pals Over Kids in Poor School Districts. Where Is Mark Weber and NJPP?
Posted On07/15/2021 byNJ Ed Report published an excellent report today about how the NJEA’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is sending unqualified teachers to teach in high-poverty, Abbott districts. Thankfully, NJ Ed Report is a trusted outlet for NJ Department of Education (DOE) whistleblowers who blew the whistle on teachers being allowed to teach all-important physics classes…Read More
Yes, It’s True: NJ Has the Highest Property Taxes in the Nation
Posted On07/13/2021 byMore good work from the Tax Foundation confirms what every New Jersey homeowner already knows: NJ has the very highest property taxes in the nation. Using 2019 Census Bureau data, the Tax Foundation looked at property taxes paid as a percentage of the value of the home. The makes sense because in wealthy states like NJ…Read More
More Flawed Research from Jersey Jazzman and NJ Policy Perspective, Once Again Aligning with the NJEA
Posted On07/09/2021 byMore flawed research by New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) and Mark Weber, Ph.D., (a.k.a Jersey Jazzman): flawed because it is predicated on prior flawed NJPP/Weber research, which it treats as established fact, which it is certainly not. And once again – like his previous work for NJPP – Weber’s conclusions align perfectly with the policy…Read More
Contra NJ Spotlight, NJ Public Pensions Are Still in Trouble and Need Reform
Posted On07/08/2021 byA surprising puff piece on NJ pensions from NJ Spotlight’s John Reitmeyer, who is usually a very good, fair reporter. Yes, it’s true that NJ is making a record payment into its woefully underfunded public pensions, and, yes, it’s true that stellar investment returns boosted pension assets to $90.6 billion (from $84.9 billion as of…Read More
NJEA’s Beatty: Gov. Murphy Is Best in the Nation When It Comes to Collaborating with Public Unions – and This Year’s Budget Proves It
Posted On07/06/2021 bySunlight could not have said it better. Supporting the NJEA’s early endorsement of Gov. Murphy, NJEA Vice President-elect Steve Beatty said: “There is no governor in the nation who has worked as closely and collaboratively with public employee unions than Gov. Murphy.” (June NJEA Review, p. 16). Just so. The record $46.3 billion budget Murphy just signed…Read More
Chalkbeat Exposes Newark School District’s Cover-up of Student Learning Loss: Superintendent Leon Should Go
Posted On07/02/2021 byIn an excellent piece of investigative journalism by Patrick Wall of Chalkbeat, “The pandemic set back student learning. Newark kept the data under wraps,” published in NJ Spotlight, Wall reports that Newark Superintendent Roger Leon is hiding the truth about student learning loss from parents and the public. This is shameful. Recall that Leon chose…Read More