Comptroller: Many NJ School Districts and Municipalities Fail to Comply with Transparency Requirement
Many NJ School Districts and Municipalities Fail to Comply with Transparency Requirement
The Office of the State Comptroller finds hundreds of school districts and municipalities failed to submit union contracts to the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission, as required by state law.
TRENTON—A review by the Office of the State Comptroller finds a majority of school districts and more than one in four municipalities have failed to comply with a requirement to submit current union contracts to the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). The widespread—and growing—noncompliance undermines transparency, according to the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) review, released today.
Under the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act (EERA), enacted in 1968, public employers are required to file their employee labor contracts with PERC. Since 2010, PERC also has been required to publish the contracts on its website.
A review by OSC finds, however, that compliance has plummeted since 2010. Using data obtained in December 2023, OSC found that 64 percent of 586 school districts and 27 percent of 488 municipalities failed to provide copies of current union contracts to PERC as of the end of 2021. By comparison, in 2010, 97 percent of municipalities and over 80 percent of school districts complied, according to the letter that OSC sent to PERC’s Chair.
“The posting of union contracts on PERC’s website is an important tool for New Jersey residents, unions, and the government,” said Acting State Comptroller Kevin D. Walsh. “By law, taxpayers are supposed to have immediate access to this information. PERC’s website provides a free way for local governments to meet their transparency obligations. It is disappointing and surprising that more of them are not complying with the law.”
OSC’s review also found that 12 local government entities and 69 school districts have not submitted any contracts to PERC since at least 2010. Local governments seem to have “limited awareness” of the law’s filing requirements, OSC found. PERC has not sent out any notices to local governments. It has only posted a document on its website.
OSC’s review spanned the period 2010 to 2023. OSC based its findings of non-compliance on data through the end of 2021 to highlight the school districts and municipalities that have been out of compliance for at least two years. (If OSC had based its findings on data through the end of 2023, the rate of non-compliance would have been even higher.)
OSC made several recommendations, including that PERC should consider using its rulemaking authority to create an enforcement mechanism that would encourage compliance.
