The74 conducted a study of the relative learning loss in Democratic (Blue) and Republican (Red) states and found that Red states offered almost twice as much in-person instruction as Blue states during the 2020-21 school year. Less in-person instruction meant less learning.  The study quotes Chad Aldeman of Georgetown’s of Edunomics Lab: Because remote learning…Read More

Once again, the Star-Ledger has stepped up with a powerful editorial that aims to hold Gov. Murphy and his teachers union allies accountable for not putting New Jersey students first.  The editorial questions Murphy’s unconscionable delay releasing the full student data from last spring’s state tests, so schools can get busy remediating the learning loss….Read More

In the wake of the Murphy administration’s very belated release of the results from last spring’s standardized tests, and the revelation that student scores plummeted, NJ101.5 asks “Does NJ Have Too Much Standardized Testing in Its Schools?”  This is an odd question to ask when it is clear that without the state’s standardized tests, we…Read More

The New Jersey Globe reported that the pro-Murphy, dark money Super PAC “Stronger Fairer Forward,” which is run by Murphy’s wife, contributed “more than $300,000” to various Democratic campaigns across the nation in this fall’s elections.  Recall that Stronger Fairer Forward received $750,000 from the NJEA’s Super PAC, which means that a good deal –…Read More

To the everlasting shame of Gov. Murphy and New Jersey’s largest teachers union, the NJEA, it has been left to two New Jersey non-profits, JerseyCan and the Urban League of Essex County (ULEC), to address COVID-related learning loss.  It is simply outrageous that Murphy’s Department of Education has yet to fully release the 2021-2022 assessment…Read More

Sunlight has discovered $70,000 in last-minute spending on school board elections from the NJEA’s Super PAC, Garden State Forward.   Recent filings with ELEC reveal that Garden State Forward spent $44,888 in Hillsborough Township for direct mail and digital ads.  The filing describes the spending as “non-partisan” and the school board race is non-partisan, while…Read More

For our last post before election day, Sunlight mined its database of the NJEA’s traditional PAC, NJEA PAC to look at NJEA PAC spending school board elections for the decade 2011-2020.  All told, NJEA contributed $493,372 in 43 different school districts.  That’s an average of $49,337 every year spent on school board races where a…Read More

Sunlight wants to update our reporting on NJEA funding for local school board races.  In Wayne, Sparta, Ringwood and Old Bridge, the NJEA’s traditional PAC, NJEA PAC, is helping to tilt school board races in favor of union-friendly candidates with $35,100 in direct donations.  Added to this is the $205,234 we know was spent by the…Read More

This year’s school board elections have drawn a lot of attention and are more hotly contested than at any time in recent memory.  As Sunlight has documented, the NJEA is running a well funded, multi-pronged campaign against parents seeking greater control over local education policies.  One prong of that campaign, the NJEA-friendly, dark-money Super PAC…Read More