The NJEA responded to an NJTV piece (go to minute 19:00) on Sunlight’s recent report on teachers’ pensions by claiming it had “many inaccuracies.”  Sunlight asks the NJEA to name one.  The NJEA will not be able to because Sunlight’s report is factual, with all data and assertions sourced and footnoted.  

The NJEA also claims that Sunlight’s report is “political advocacy.”  This is entirely false.  There is no political advocacy in it whatsoever and Sunlight defies the NJEA to show one example of political advocacy in the report.  The NJEA will not be able to because it is a research report that presents the facts — facts which most teachers are unaware of because the NJEA leadership prefers to keep them in the dark.  It’s so much easier for the NJEA to impugn Sunlight rather than address the uncomfortable facts presented or the truth about the dire condition of the teachers’ pension fund.

Sunlight reiterates the facts presented in the report: the NJEA leadership has gold-plated and very secure pensions, while the teachers who pay for the leadership’s pensions have inferior pensions that are severely underfunded.  The NJEA has cheated its members by allowing their pension system to become so severely underfunded.

Teachers should demand the truth and immediate action to secure their pensions.

On a separate note, Sunlight appreciates NJ Spotlight News covering our report.  Sunlight has been critical of NJ Spotlight’s editorial policies and has questioned whether the NJEA’s funding for NJ Spotlight and NJTV has influenced them.  In light of this coverage (in a show funded by the NJEA), Sunlight acknowledges that there was clearly no bias in this case, and we will give credit where credit is due.