Article

Friday, August 11, 2006 • Tom Moran • Star-Ledger Columnist

SETTING UP A FORMULA FOR SCHOOL AID

Joyce Powell sat near the front row and wore a bright pink jacket, a splash of color in a sea of gray and blue suits.

But the politicians in the room would have spotted her anyway. Because Powell, an unfamiliar face to most voters, leads the most powerful special interest group in New Jersey, hands down.

She's president of the teachers union.

And yesterday was a good day for her. Legislators who were supposedly searching for ways to cut property taxes spent two hours discussing school funding without making a peep that offended her.

"I didn't hear much of anything about reducing school costs, which surprised me in a good way," Powell said. "People realize that quality education comes at a cost."

We can debate the quality of New Jersey schools. But there's no question about that high cost.

Teacher salaries here are among the highest in the nation, and they're rising at about twice the rate of inflation. They have summers off, they can retire at age 55, and they don't have to pay a dime toward retiree health benefits.

Add up those costs, and teachers are the single largest driver of high property taxes in New Jersey.

So taxpayers and teachers are in opposite corners in this fight over property taxes. They can't both win.

And here's a tip for the gamblers out there: Put your money on the teachers.

The NJEA has nearly 200,000 members, dwarfing all the other public worker unions. At its political headquarters on West State Street in Trenton, it has a staff of 140 -- larger than the governor's staff of 125.

It is consistently among the top political donors. And on Election Day last year 1,400 volunteers worked phone banks and mobilized voters.

"We do a lot of focus groups and polling, so we know what the pub lic thinks, in each legislative district," Powell says.

The results are a string of impressive political wins. The Legislature bumped pension payments beyond those the union won at the bargaining table. They banned many school boards from even negotiating for concessions on health care payments. They stripped districts of the right to impose contract terms in the event of stalemate, a big boost for unions during contract talks.

"They've gained so much," says Lynne Strickland, director of the Garden State Coalition for Schools, an advocacy group. "The pendulum has swung so far in their direction that it can only swing back now."

Maybe. But yesterday, the legislators on the panel didn't even mention how central teacher salaries and benefits are to this discussion.

"People remember the NJEA and John Lynch, and some really fear that," said Sen. John Adler, the panel's chairman.

He was referring to one of the NJEA's most bloodthirsty mo ments. In 1991, then Senate President John Lynch proposed a cap on teacher salaries, and the NJEA financed a campaign against him that came within 1,800 votes of sending Lynch into retirement.

It was a shock, not just as a demonstration of the NJEA's raw power, but for the slimy tactics the union used in trying to link Lynch to organized crime.

"Some legislators are so afraid of the NJEA they quake," says Sen. Gerald Cardinale, a Republican from Bergen County.

Powell notes that the average teacher makes just under $60,000, a modest sum for someone with a master's degree and years of experience. She says she worries that the drive to cut property taxes could wreck the public schools, as in California.

Her solution to the property tax problem is a big boost in state aid to schools. But that's not going to happen, given the expected budget shortfalls next year.

So it will come down to a tug-of- war, with the muscular teachers union pulling on one end, and the abused taxpayer on the other.

And if history is any guide, Powell will win.

In tax fight, the teachers are a study in clout

Return to Articles page