This is a guest post from New Jersey Education Watch.
Since New Jersey Education Watch’s recent launch, we have been inundated with stories, questions, and concerns from New Jersey teachers regarding the statewide leadership of the NJEA.
One demand has clearly come through —teachers throughout New Jersey want a better understanding of how they benefit from their dues – is the money being well spent.
So, let’s get to the facts…
By law, the NJEA files a public tax form called a 990 each year, itemizing how union leadership spends member dues. It took some time and digging, but we got our hands on the latest 2017 document – and what it shows is wasteful spending you would never believe.
DID YOU KNOW – The NJEA’s President, Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer were compensated a total of $1.44 million in 2017?
For those who do not have their calculators on them – that is an average of $482,500, or almost seven times the average New Jersey teachers’ pay.
DID YOU KNOW – NJEA’s President, Wendell Steinhauer, received a pay bump of $45,466 in 2017? And that NJEA’s Secretary-Treasurer, Sean Spiller, received a pay bump of $40,524 in 2017?
Did you receive a $40,000 raise this year?
DID YOU KNOW – NJEA’s leadership was also rewarded with $1.2 million in deferred compensation in 2017 — more than in any other year?
For those who do not know what deferred compensation is, and to be honest we needed to look it up ourselves, this is an arrangement in which a portion of an employee’s income is paid out at a later date after which the income was earned. The primary benefit of most deferred compensation is the deferral of taxes.
If you are curious, NJEA’s Business Development Director, Timothy McGuckin, led the pack with $634,251 in deferred pay! Executive Director Edward Richardson came in second with $335,106 in deferred pay!
DID YOU KNOW – The NJEA statewide leadership more than doubled its spending on lobbying and public relations in 2017 compared to the previous year?
DID YOU KNOW – The NJEA Leadership increased member dues once again, this time for a record $125.1 million in 2017.
Enough is really enough. Classrooms are struggling to find the dollars to modernize. Teachers are needing to work extra jobs just to make ends meet.
It is time New Jersey demands change. This has gone on too long. The NJEA statewide leadership needs accountability.
It is time to come together and demand that the collective voice of New Jersey’s teachers, electeds, and parents are heard.
And if they do not listen, if they do not answer, teacher’s can even utilize the new Supreme Court ruling allowing New Jersey teachers to keep their money.
It is up to us. New Jersey does not need to stand for this anymore.
Learn more about what you can do at NJEducationWatch.com.
