Education

Feds Launch Investigation Into Blue State’s Largest Teachers Union

Screen Capture/PBS NewsHour

The largest teachers’ union in New Jersey is under investigation due to its alleged ties to a super PAC boosting its former president in his failed gubernatorial run.

Federal authorities are probing the New Jersey Education Association’s (NJEA) channeling of roughly $40 million in union funds to promote its former president Sean Spiller’s 2025 Democratic gubernatorial campaign, Politico reported Thursday. This campaign cash was given to two super PACs with ties to the union: Garden State Forward and Working New Jersey.

Run by former NJEA officials, Working New Jersey, spent money on ads and campaign expenses to promote Spiller in the June 2025 Democratic primary campaign for governor, the outlet reported. Spiller’s actual campaign raised and spent comparably little.

Several individuals tied to Working New Jersey have received subpoenas, including one confirmed from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, according to Politico. The specific potential violations of state law being investigated remain “scarce.”

NJEA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey had no comment.

The union was funneling money to Spiller even before he ran for governor, Politico reported. Through Garden State Forward, NJEA channeled at least $5 million into a nonprofit called Protecting Our Democracy that promoted the union’s boss.

Spiller placed fifth of six candidates in the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, which was won by now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill. He received 10.6% of the vote.

NJEA is New Jersey’s largest and most politically powerful public sector union and has about 200,000 members, according to its website.

The NJEA collected roughly over $120 million annually in total revenue, largely funded through mandatory membership dues paid by public school employees and voluntary political contributions, a 2017 report from the American Enterprise Institute said.

Individual members typically pay upwards of $1,000 to $1,500+ per year in combined local, state (NJEA), and national (National Education Association) dues, according to the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey.

In April, the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey published a 24-page research report alleging the NJEA wasted $45 million of dues on Spiller’s failed run for governor, alleging the union “doomed the best chance to improve teachers’ pensions.”