While the majority of New Jerseyans love public school teachers, more than half believe that the NJ Education Association (NJEA) is “playing a negative role in improving public education,” according to a Quinnipiac poll released yesterday.

In addition, reports New Jersey Newsroom, 68% of residents favor implementation of a merit pay system and 62% support tenure reform. We’re more split on school choice; the poll found that by a small margin we oppose school vouchers and charter school expansion. From Maurice Carroll of Quinnipiac:

“They like their kids’ teachers, but don’t like the teachers’ union,” Carroll added. “And they favor two items that the union hates — merit pay and some limits on teacher tenure. But voters are unenthusiastic on two school items that Governor. Christie likes — vouchers and charter schools. More than two-thirds of voters agree with Christie’s move to curb school superintendent salaries. One-quarter think it’s meddling in local affairs.”

Seems like Gov. Christie comes out ahead on this one, despite ongoing and passionate dissent among those opposed to the voucher bill. (See another installment in the series from Bob Braun.)

In other local and related news, the credit rating firm Standard and Poors cut our grade from AA to AA- because of our “growing pension and health-care obligations,” according to Bloomberg News. Only two other states in the country have lower investment grades than us – California and Illinois.

NJ residents understand the connection: according to the Quinnipiac poll 56% of respondents support lay-offs for state workers, 77% support wage freezes, and 66% support reducing pensions for new state workers. Regarding wage freezes and reducing pensions, even households with union members answered “yes,” reflecting NJEA’s lack of sync with its own members.