NJEA’s Center for Honesty in Education aims to combat disinformation, regressive policies, and dangerous rhetoric in local school districts by giving our association leaders the tools necessary to forge constructive partnerships with parents and other community stakeholders, keep partisan politics out of our public schools and—above all—ensure that our members can continue to support our students rebound from the pandemic in a safe and inclusive learning environment.
Anti-union propaganda alert for Sunlight Policy Center and Freedom Foundation/Opt Out Today
Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey
The Sunlight Policy Center is a 501(c)(3) organization that claims to be a non-partisan research center focused on “advocating for policy solutions that put New Jersey back on the path to future prosperity.” Since 2019, they have published a series of “policy papers” and blog posts attacking NJEA, denigrating our elected leadership and spreading poorly sourced, misleading and false disinformation about our finances and organizing practices. They consistently make false claims regarding the levels of compensation of NJEA staff. SPCNJ has also spread disinformation about COVID-19 safety in public schools and dangerous rhetoric aimed at worsening New Jersey’s teacher shortage. They routinely advocate against union membership and have made repeated attempts to convince members to leave the union.
Who is Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey
The Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey, backed by right-wing groups like the American Enterprise Institute and aligned with the Heritage Foundation, are now working in concert on Project 2025—a sweeping agenda to dismantle public education as we know it. These groups, with deep-pocketed donors and ties to conservative power players, are pushing policies that weaken public school funding, promote private school vouchers, and undermine teachers' unions, all to shift resources away from public education to private interests. With Project 2025, they are advancing a coordinated effort to strip protections, reduce funding, and threaten the equitable access that public schools provide, jeopardizing the future of American public education.
Why are they talking about NJEA’s membership dues?
Sunlight Policy Center is a political advocacy organization with an anti-union agenda. Their billionaire backers would love nothing more than to reduce the ranks of union membership in New Jersey, because we are the only thing standing between them and their efforts to privatize public education. SPCNJ has allied themselves with the greater disinformation movement in New Jersey, providing them with talking points and materials to attack educators, spread hateful rhetoric, and undermine our public schools.
NJEA members recognize that their union membership is more than a simple purchase of services. Collectively, NJEA members stand together to advocate for our profession and to keep New Jersey’s public schools the best in the nation, and the leaders and staff of NJEA are proud to stand by their side.
What should I do?
Take a closer look. Organizations that seek to undermine union membership usually have financial motives, and SPCNJ is no exception.
If you receive emails from SPCNJ at your school district email address, contact your district IT department and request that they block emails from this sender domain as anti-union propaganda.
Report suspicious activity related to your membership using the Center for Honesty reporting tool at centerforhonesty.org. Educate yourself and your colleagues. And remember, your freedom to stand up for yourself and public education is on the line.
Freedom Foundation / Opt Out Today
The NJEA Center for Honesty in Education has received repeated reports of anti-union propaganda appearing in the home mailboxes of NJEA members around the state. All NJEA staff and leaders should be advised that the Center has received reports of these mailings in every region of the state over the last year.
The latest mailing from Freedom Foundation, as part of their project “Opt Out Today”, presents itself as a “Labor Union Satisfaction Survey”, and instructs members to complete a series of questions and return them by mail. While the business reply address on this postcard is labeled “NJEA PRESIDENT”, the address is really the Freedom Foundation headquarters in Olympia, WA.
Freedom Foundation is a libertarian think tank founded in Washington, with offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, and Oregon. They describe themselves as “a battle tank that’s battering the entrenched power of left-wing government union bosses who represent a permanent lobby for bigger government, higher taxes, and radical social agendas.” This clear political agenda is only exposed further when looking closer at their financial reports. IRS filings have laid bare the millions of dollars in funding
Freedom Foundation has received from radical conservative families like Coors, Bradley, Koch, and Scaife, not to mention millions more from dark money groups like DonorsTrust and State Policy Network.
How did they get our members home addresses?
These days, the expectation of data privacy is constantly shrinking. Public information requests from school districts or state agencies, combined with private commercial data sources and powerful analytics tools make it easier every day to obtain lists of individuals. We are not aware of any membership data leaks or widespread data acquisition attempts.
What should I do?
All members are advised that this mailing is NOT from NJEA, and this survey should not be completed.
Organizations that seek to undermine union membership usually have financial motives, and Freedom Foundation is no exception. Their donors have a vested interest in reducing the strength of working people and the ability of government agencies to regulate the industries in which they amass billions of dollars.
Report suspicious activity related to your membership using the Center for Honesty reporting tool at centerforhonesty.org. Educate yourself and your colleagues. And remember, your freedom to stand up for yourself and public education is on the line.