Reform group’s study finds Garden State teachers unions among most influential
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012
BY LESLIE BRODY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
New Jersey teacher unions are among the strongest nationwide, a report due for release today by a conservative research group says.
The Fordham Institute in Washington, D.C., aimed to show how teacher unions exert influence through spending, politics and clout at the bargaining table. It rated unions in each state by 37 indicators, such as membership, campaign donations, and the degree that local policies suited union interests. New Jersey ranked No. 7 overall.
With 97 percent of its teachers unionized, the report said, New Jersey’s teacher unions ranked No. 1 in resources. They’re No. 2 in “perceived influence,” judging by surveys of business people, parents, civic groups, advocates and educators. And they fall in the middle of the pack in the rating for political involvement, such as donations to candidates for state office.
The analysis comes after three years of heated battles between Governor Christie and the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teacher union. Both sides claimed victory in last summer’s passage of a new tenure law. The governor touted his leadership in improving a century-old system that often protected weak teachers, while the NJEA boasted the new law still shielded seniority rights during layoffs.
The NJEA, with 198,475 members, has long wielded power, though it suffered a setback when Christie signed a law in 2011 boosting public workers’ contributions to their pensions and health benefits.