Tag: Senate President Steve Sweeney

Here’s What’s Wrong With Save Our Schools-NJ’s Answers to the DOE Charter School Survey. Or, Let Them Eat Cake.

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Last week the anti-choice/accountability Princeton-based group called Save Our Schools-New Jersey summoned its Facebook members to fill out the survey that is part of the state’s charter school law review.  No brain required because SOS-NJ has helpfully given supporters the answers to the survey; all they have to do is cut and paste. There’s one problem with this convenience: the answers SOS-NJ supplies contradict best practices and distort facts. As a public service I’m providing …

Correcting The Record on “Murphy Promise Tracker”: The Education Edition

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This past weekend The Record published its latest edition of its“Murphy Promise Tracker,” which aims to hold Gov. Murphy “accountable” to “statements made during the campaign or posted on its website.” One problem: The Record is grading on a curve. In fact, every single promise made by Murphy receives a declaration of either “promise kept” or “promise launched.” And that’s simply not true.  Let’s preface this by acknowledging that Gov. Murphy has had a rough …

NJ Teacher on Janus: NJEA Spent Our Money On a Candidate That Doesn’t Represent Our Values and Ran Out Health Benefits Into The Ground.

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Cody D. Miller is a member of the New Jersey Education Association, the largest Teachers union in New Jersey.  He also serves on the City Council in Monroe Township. This post was originally published at nj.com. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Mark Janus, a child support specialist in Illinois who felt that his free speech rights were violated by mandatory dues payments to his local union. Since the Court’s ruling, teachers unions across …

Janus Is In. What Does The SCOTUS Ruling Mean For NJEA?

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The Supreme Court issued its 5-4 ruling this morning in Janus v. the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority, “states and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. The First Amendment is violated when money is taken from nonconsenting employees for a public-sector union; employees must choose to support the union before anything is taken from them.” Further, “[w]e conclude …

Camden Families Beg To Differ With NJEA and Education Law Center: Pass That Bill!

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Alert! Alert! A new bill in the New Jersey Legislature intends to infest Camden’s traditional school system with a malignancy disguised as a minor legislative tweak. This new bill, an adjustment to the 2012 Urban Hope Act, threatens to decimate the district by siphoning resources from real public schools in order to dramatically expand the reach of fake public schools, also known as “renaissance” schools, which are run by craven privatizers. In addition, the bill …

Are the Project Veritas/NJEA Videos an Anomaly or the Canary in the Coal Mine?

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Last week at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey legislators moved far beyond the usual debates about our education system. Instead of quotidian discussions on issues like the flaws in our school funding formula or high school graduation requirements or student assessments, the Senate Education and Labor Committees held a special joint hearing on the unimaginable: the safety of New Jersey’s public school children and the behavior of teacher union leaders. Anchoring these hearing were …

We Are #CharterStrong!

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State Street in Trenton was hopping today! With the Senate and Assembly both in session on this bright chilly morning, NRA members gathered around the War Memorial to protest new gun control proposals, Lakewood attorney Michael Inzelbuch bussed in students to press the state for more money for non-public students, and Asbury Park residents gathered to support the confirmation of their former superintendent Lamont Repollet, nominated for State Education Commissioner. But the loudest and largest crowd …

The Votes Are In: New Jersey’s Teachers Union Really Blew It

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The leaders of New Jersey’s primary teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), have egg on their faces. In a triumph of vindictiveness over intelligence, the leadership of the richest lobbying group in the state decided to spurn State Senator Steve Sweeney and back a Trump-loving, climate change-denying, xenophobic, little-known councilman named Fran Grenier. On Tuesday, Sweeney, running for re-election in New Jersey’s District 3, beat Grenier by 18 points. Why would union leaders …

The Lakewood Vaad Says, “Vote For Murphy, He’s a Mensch”

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To no one’s surprise, the Lakewood Vaad, a group of eleven ultra-Orthodox men who control all educational, political, budgetary, and construction activity in this rapidly-growing city, has endorsed Phil Murphy for governor. (See here and here for background.) According to the Asbury Park Press, this announcement comes two weeks after Murphy visited Lakewood for a fundraiser and  “mixer” with 50 ultra-Orthodox men. I’ve printed the endorsement below. First, a few comments. The Vaad, which typically …

NJEA and the Politics of Resentment

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N.J.’s big education news is our kids’ sharp rise in proficiency levels on this past Spring’s state standardized test called PARCC — districts will release scores tomorrow —  but you’d never know it by looking at the papers. Instead of focusing on improvements in student learning, the trending topic is NJEA leaders’ desperate attempt to unseat Senate President Steve Sweeney because he acted in a statesmanlike manner and made the astute decision to pull back …