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“Reform group’s study finds Garden State tecahers unions among most influential”
by Leslie Brody
The Record
October 29, 2012

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.

According to the New Jersey Election Enforcement Commission, the NJEA Political Action Committee spent $556,905 so far this year on legislative candidates and committees and still has more than $1 million on hand. Last year the NJEA eclipsed all other lobby groups in the state by spending $11.2 million on lobbying and advertisements to shape public opinion, the commission said. The American Federation of Teachers, which represents several districts’ faculties including those in Garfield and Newark, has a much smaller presence.

The new Fordham Institute report, called “How Strong Are U.S. Teachers Unions?” was funded by two family foundations and Education Reform, a group affiliated with Democrats for Education Reform. It can be found at edexcellence.net.

Steve Baker, a spokesman for the NJEA, agreed his union is “very strong” but dismissed the report’s data as the “silly” product of anti-union activists. For example, he said the state-by-state comparison of campaign contributions reflected local campaign finance laws more than union muscle. “It means nothing to me if they were to say we are the most powerful, least powerful or something in between,” he said.

Amber Winkler, a lead researcher for the report, countered that it was “an honest attempt” to quantify union strength in ways that had not been done before. “Unions can show power in multiple ways, and some are not visible.

“It’s not a secret we’re not for the status quo,” she added. “We’re trying to push reform.” The Fordham Institute has pushed for more charter schools, vouchers and using student achievement to measure teachers, for example.

Winkler predicted more turbulence ahead.

“You have Chris Christie, who has been very verbal in how he feels about teacher unions but claiming they worked together and collaborated” on changing tenure, she said. “Both sides are claiming success in terms of how the legislation panned out. There will continue to be strife in New Jersey between labor unions and reformers.”

The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.