Progressive Think-Tank: States with Powerful Teachers’ Unions Lag on Literacy Reforms, Just as They Lag on Recovery from COVID Learning Loss. Will NJ Policymakers Choose Our Children’s Future or NJEA Political Power?

Sunlight is very happy to see our work confirmed — especially by a leading progressive think-tank. Rachel Canter of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) wrote and op-ed in the New York Post with a title that says it all: “States with strong teachers’ unions adopt fewer crucial literacy policy reforms – and most are Democratic strongholds.” In June 2026, Sunlight published its own research with the title “Like NJ, States With Powerful Teachers Unions Have Weaker Student Recovery from the Pandemic, Yet They Spend 70% More on Education.” New Jersey was one of the leading examples. The bottom line is that two research reports from two very different sources arrived at the same conclusion: states with powerful teachers’ unions hinder student success, whether it’s in terms of literacy or recovery from pandemic-related learning loss. Canter hits the nail on the head: “The question is whether policymakers … have the courage to risk taking heat [from teachers’ unions] on behalf of our children’s future.” What say you, New Jersey? Our kids’ future or NJEA political power?

PPI: Blue states with strong unions lag on necessary literacy reforms. The Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) Director of Education Policy, Rachel Canter, wrote an op-ed in the New York Post that described her analysis of state literacy education reforms. Her “shocking” conclusion was that:

Blue states with strong teaches unions overwhelmingly adopt fewer literacy education reforms than Republican states where unions have less political sway.

Canter found that 8 of the 14 states adopting the fewest literacy reforms were liberal stronghold with politically powerful teachers’ unions while just 5 were Republican (one was a swing state). Canter looked at 18 literacy policies and found that Democratic states had adopted an average of 9, while Republican states averaged 13.5. Of the 23 states with the most reforms, 13 were majority Republican and only 4 were majority Democrat. Out of the top 32 performing states, only 7 were Democratic and only 4 were from states with the most powerful unions. Canter spent two decades in Mississippi advocating for literacy reforms, so she knows what she is talking about, given that states meteoric rise in literacy and student achievement.

Canter gets to the heart of the issue:

We found a strong, negative correlation between the two — the more powerful the unions, the fewer literacy policy principles the state had adopted.

Canter notes that she has encountered Democrats who want literacy reforms “but feel shackled by their unions.” Union dominance is so strong that these Democrats don’t even ask if their state could replicate Mississippi’s success, they simply ask if any reform is “possible at all.” That said, reform is possible in blue states, as Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Mexico show.

Sunlight: Blue states with powerful unions have lower test scores and worse recoveries from pandemic-related learning loss. In June 2026, Sunlight analyzed the data, using the Urban Institute’s demographically-adjusted test scores and the Fordham Institute’s ranking of the most powerful state teachers unions. We found that in terms of both absolute test scores and the recovery from pandemic-related learning loss, the top 15 states with most powerful teachers unions underperformed the 15 states with the least powerful teachers’ unions. This makes sense given that states with the most powerful unions tended to keep schools closed for in-person learning for longer and the students suffered more learning loss as a result. For the record, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas all outperformed New Jersey.

But spend 70% more per pupil for lesser academic results. But what was so striking about these academic results is the attendant per pupil spending by the states. The 15 states with the most powerful unions averaged $21,447 per pupil against $12,584 for the 15 states with the least powerful unions. In other words, the big-union states spent over 70% more per pupil — and New Jersey spent more than twice as much — for poorer academic results. The students and taxpayers lose and the teachers unions win.

Canter hits the nail on the head about what’s really at stake: “The question is whether policymakers … have the courage to risk taking heat [from teachers’ unions] on behalf of our children’s future.” What say you, New Jersey? Our children’s future or NJEA political power?