NJ Education Report

A piece in the Star Ledger today delves into a bill that never got signed. In June, the NJ Legislature voted to scale back pension benefits for school teachers beginning this school year. However, after the teachers’ union, NJEA, complained that they didn’t have time to notify the teachers of the changes over the summer, Corzine didn’t sign the bill. The Star-Ledger explains,

The reforms, adopted over heated opposition from the state’s most influential public employees’ unions, would eliminate the Lincoln’s Birthday state holiday, raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and bar public employees from using time worked in other states to reach the 25 years of employment needed to qualify for lifetime health benefits from New Jersey.

While no one knows the total cost of the delay, state and local governments could lose at least $1.42 million in 2011 — the first year of estimated savings. Supporters of the reforms said they would cut retirement costs by $300 million over 15 years.

NJEA President Joyce Powell and Corzine both confirmed the sequence of events. Said Powell,

Since it happened in June, we wouldn’t have had any way of telling people. So we had to have the beginning of the school year to inform people.

Happy Labor Day!