Why is Sean Spiller – a Statewide NJEA Official – Voting On Our Montclair School Budget?

Yesterday the Montclair Board of School Estimate voted on approving the Montclair schools budget for this coming year. It was an important vote that will dictate how millions are dollars are spent to educate our children.  So why are we allowing board members with troubling allegiances to cast such influential votes?

Sean Spiller, in particular, has a major conflict of interest, and it makes no sense that our town lets him serve on the Board. 

Here’s the problem: In addition to being our Ward 3 council member, Spiller serves as one of the top officials in a statewide capacity for the New Jersey Education Association. His job is to represent all of those members – and the district’s budget is mostly comprised of the salaries of those NJEA members. Spiller can’t possibly be an independent voice on the budget.

He should step down from the Board of Estimate, or our Mayor should remove him.

According to the NJEA’s site:

“Spiller’s focus as NJEA secretary-treasurer is on helping members become more involved at the community level in confronting the challenges that face public education and school employees.”

In other words, he is charged with representing the interests of the thousands of teacher-members statewide (and “confronting” likely means “getting in local political fights.”)

https://www.njea.org/about/who-we-are/leadership-and-staff/officers/secretary-treasurer

He’s already involved here in Montclair.

This isn’t the first time this issue has been raised. When Spiller ran, people asked about his conflicts of interests in negotiating with town employees.

“Also, the PCEA (Passaic County Education Association) PAC gave $1,000. As Sean Spiller is head of a teacher’s union himself (in Wayne), opponents have wondered if that will impact his ability to negotiate against town employees.”

http://baristanet.com/2012/04/the-lowdown-on-campaign-donations/

And that’s not even about his voting for or against the budget that pays the salaries of all of the NJEA members here in Montclair.

Spiller wasn’t originally a statewide NJEA official representing teachers here in Montclair when he was elected and appointed to the Board of Estimate. So, in 2013, when he voted on the budget, it was less of an issue.

But now that he is serving in that role, it represents a serious conflict of interest, and basic ethical standards would say he should step down from the position, or the Mayor should remove him.