Petal Robertson, Secretary-Treasurer of the New Jersey Education Association, has been visiting school districts and speaking to NJEA members about “pension justice,” the proper financing of the retirement benefits system called the Teachers Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF). On Monday she spoke at Montclair High School (where she is the president of the local teachers union) and will be in Irvington next week. According to one teacher, she used the occasion to “drum up support from teachers and staff, for [NJEA President Sean] Spiller for governor.”

The attendee at the Montclair event (see image below) notes, despite state law and school policy that prohibits campaigning on public property, Robertson made the argument that Spiller would be best-suited to preserve the current pension system. Robertson declined NJ Education Report’s request for comment.

NJ’s teacher pension system has been in trouble for a long time. Both former-Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Phil Murphy have provide some relief: Christie signed a bill dedicating 77.8% of the state lottery revenue until 2047 while Murphy made full pension payments of $6.8 billion a year for the last two years with an assist of short-term federal Covid money.* But right now TPAF only has on hand 38% of its liabilities (the amount it needs to pay out to retirees}. This means that NJ has only 38 cents of every dollar it will owe future retirees.

The state is relying on strong investment returns to make up the difference, which works well in the current hot market: Pew describes NJ’s progress in shoring up its pension plan a “turnaround.” However, if the market cools, warns a new report, “New Jersey taxpayers are on the hook for the 65% of these pension obligations that is unfunded… this reality has not been conveyed to them.”

*Correction: Gov. Murphy’s $6.8 billion a year includes other state pension plans. During the last two years, contributions to TPAF were about $4 billion a year.