” Our town is infested with personal interest groups that have found a way of using public money to progress themselves, friends and family. It’s metastasized and rotting us to the core. “
Reader Says Ridgewood is Run by Special Interests
Tag: NJEA
NJEA Owns Governor Murphy
the staff of the Ridgewood bog
Trenton NJ, “Dark money” group New Direction New Jersey (NDNJ) is no longer quite so dark. Some nine months after promising to disclose its donors, NDNJ finally did last week. But only after the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey (SPCNJ), POLITICO and the Bergen Record dug up the major sources of its funding. And only after lawmakers passed a new disclosure law (now under legal challenge). The gig was up and NDNJ knew it.
Continue reading NJEA Owns Governor MurphyItalian-American civil rights Group Takes on NEA’s Attack on Columbus Day
Hey, NEA! No way!
by: André DiMino
At its 2019 National Convention, the National Education Association (NEA) passed a resolution to have Columbus Day renamed Indigenous Peoples Day, stating, “As an education association, recognizing, observing, and celebrating factual history is important to maintaining our academic integrity.”
Really? Come on! How hypocritical. The current onslaught of politically correct hysteria foisted upon the Great Discoverer is just plain false. Shame on the NEA for being complicit in this nefarious conspiracy to obfuscate the facts and perpetrate the rewriting of history.
Continue reading Italian-American civil rights Group Takes on NEA’s Attack on Columbus DayNJEA PAC Endorses 59 Candidates in Legislative Contests Including Some Republicans
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Educations Association’s 125-member political action committee (NJEA PAC) voted to endorse 59 candidates for election to the New Jersey General Assembly in the upcoming November election.
“NJEA members have seen the profound impact that political decisions have on their lives and on the lives of their students,” said NJEA President Marie Blistan. “NJEA members have always been active participants in the political process, because we care about our profession and our students. As the burden of Ch. 78 and the lack of job justice for educational support professionals (ESP) make clear, it is more important than ever that we elect candidates who share our priorities and values.”
Continue reading NJEA PAC Endorses 59 Candidates in Legislative Contests Including Some RepublicansItalian American Group Galvanizes Widespread Opposition to NEA Resolution to Eliminate Columbus Day
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition (“IAOVC”), a nationwide coalition of anti-bias activists, has assembled a Task Force, comprised of a wide array of Italian American organizations, to demand that the National Education Association (“NEA”) overturn its Resolution, passed at the NEA National Convention last month, to eliminate Columbus Day.
“As a former teacher and Italian American I am outraged that the NEA launched this attack on Columbus Day, using their pulpit to poison the minds of children with the overblown, false, non-factual narrative about the history of Columbus,” stated Dr. Manny Alfano, Founder and President of IAOVC. “This is not only an attack on Italian Americans it is an attack against all Western culture, using Columbus as a figurehead. This is Anti-Italian and Anti-American.”
Continue reading Italian American Group Galvanizes Widespread Opposition to NEA Resolution to Eliminate Columbus DayHow Much Does The NJEA Really Spend On Politics?
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Over the last two weeks, since our launch, the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey (SPCNJ) has shined a strong light on two important issues related to the powerful NJEA.
We showed, with each step clearly sourced, how the NJEA leadership funds its powerful political machine through a unique system based on billions of taxpayer dollars. We have also highlighted the political professionals who have specifically benefitted from all that money, whether it be the millions in political contributions to elected officials or the millions more to NJEA headquarters staff, including six one-percenters who make ten times more than their union membership.
Continue reading How Much Does The NJEA Really Spend On Politics?NJ’s teachers’ pension fund (TPAF) will be bankrupt by 2029
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to Garden State Initiative the NJ’s teachers’ pension fund (TPAF) will be bankrupt by 2029 & Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) by 2034.
There is a current unfunded liability of $41 billion in the TPAF & PERS pension funds for teachers and state employees that will rise to $51 billion in 2023.
This is unsustainable for New Jersey taxpayers who are facing a fiscal cliff of tax increases to pay for public employee pensions. Reform is needed. Now.
Did You Know that Every New Jersey Property Taxpayer Directly Funds New Jersey’s Most Powerful Special Interest Group?
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Last week, the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey issued a report that made news throughout the state, when we uncovered that the NJEA has been secretly funneling millions of dollars into a dark money group supporting Governor Murphy.
Continue reading Did You Know that Every New Jersey Property Taxpayer Directly Funds New Jersey’s Most Powerful Special Interest Group?NJEA: New Jersey’s Political Machine
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Who is funding New Direction New Jersey, the dark money group supporting Governor Murphy’s agenda?
No surprise: it’s New Jersey’s most powerful special interest, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). This $2.5 million in surreptitious spending is just one example of how the NJEA obscures its political activities from the public and even its own members. There are many others.
Continue reading NJEA: New Jersey’s Political MachineTeacher Blamed for Trump Yearbook Controversy Claims Her Free Speech Rights are being Violated
‘the staff of the Ridgewood blog
HOLMDEL NJ, The high school teacher who was blamed for a yearbook censorship controversy in Wall Township in 2017 filed a motion in the Superior Court in Monmouth County on Thursday, seeking immediate relief from a Board of Education (BOE) policy that has blocked her from being able to tell her full story to the media.
In her original lawsuit filed on May 6, 2019, Susan Parsons alleged she was framed by members of the school administration as the person responsible for digitally altering a student’s 2017 yearbook photo to remove a “Trump: Make America Great Again” logo from his shirt, a narrative she was unable to refute due to an ongoing BOE media gag order.
Continue reading Teacher Blamed for Trump Yearbook Controversy Claims Her Free Speech Rights are being ViolatedSenate President Steve Sweeney Continues Push for State Health Benefits Plan for all School Employees
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Senate President Steve Sweeney joined in a panel discussion sponsored by the League of Municipalities for its 27th Annual Mayors Legislative Day where he discussed the cost-cutting reforms in the “Path to Progress” report, including those that will produce savings and efficiencies for municipalities, school districts and their employees. Senator Sweeney participated as a member of the “Meet the Legislative Leaders” panel discussion.
“The proposals developed by the study commission will deliver savings for state and local government alike,” said Senator Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland). “Municipalities, local school districts and the taxpayers will realize the benefits of the proposals to address soaring pension and benefit costs, hold down property taxes, make government and school districts more efficient, and leverage state assets.”
Continue reading Senate President Steve Sweeney Continues Push for State Health Benefits Plan for all School EmployeesSenate President Steve Sweeney calls for the merger of the high-cost School Employees Health Benefits Plan into the lower-cost State Health Benefits Plan
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Monroe Township NJ, Declaring that teachers and school districts are paying too much for their healthcare coverage, Senate President Steve Sweeney today called for the merger of the high-cost School Employees Health Benefits Plan into the lower-cost State Health Benefits Plan to take advantage of the cost savings negotiated by the Governor and the state’s largest public workers union.
Speaking at a meeting of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, Senator Sweeney said legislation merging the two healthcare plans would be a cornerstone of the Path to Progress legislative package that will be introduced to implement recommendations of the bipartisan Economic and Fiscal Policy Workgroup.
Continue reading Senate President Steve Sweeney calls for the merger of the high-cost School Employees Health Benefits Plan into the lower-cost State Health Benefits PlanNJ Public Workers Starting to Make Their Own Choices
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
TRENTON NJ, AFP Foundation State Director Erica Jedynak issued the following statement in response to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics survey data indicating a 30,000-member reduction in public sector labor unions in New Jersey following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus vs. AFSCME in 2018.
“The SCOTUS decision in Janus vs. AFSCME was a game changer. Public workers in New Jersey are no longer forced to choose between their jobs and compelled speech and association. They now have the power of choice—to decide whether their hard-earned checks are used to support unions or not. The latest data indicates workers are exercising their newfound rights by the thousands. AFP Foundation will continue its partnership with the My Pay My Say campaign to educate and support workers and would encourage workers who have questions to reach out.”
Continue reading NJ Public Workers Starting to Make Their Own ChoicesReader says ,”Funny how teachers & staff only go to a board meeting when THEIR interests are effected “
Funny how teachers & staff only go to a board meeting when THEIR interests are effected, for example, when THEIR contract expired. How come they don’t appear at other Board Meetings? Funny how RBOE isn’t in the top 10 public school districts according the the State of NJ. Keep paying those high taxes for tenured teachers that can’t get reprimanded or fired. The teachers union sounds more like mafia. How about Ridgewood teachers spend a day in Newark or Jersey City classroom and see what a REAL school day is like.
Reader says,” NJEA owns Governor Murphy “
Let’s talk about the “abbot districts” as established by NJ Supreme Court.
The state mandate the same $$$ is spent per student in every district.
Nice thought, but it won’t work. Why?
The teachers union objects to school choice so underperforming lazy tenured teachers can slide while the students do not learn.
More important is that in Paterson , an abbot district, students only need to attend in order to progress from one grade to another, and get a diploma.
So let’s get the secret out… A diploma from one of these districts is as worthless as a piece of toilet paper.
If the motivate students could choose a school to attend, with a voucher, they would excell.
But thanks to the NJ teachers unions it will never happen. They own Gov Murphy
