Two Pennsylvania lawmakers want to exorcise public school districts of so-called “ghost teachers,” who do union work on school time.
Reps. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, and Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, will co-sponsor a bill this fall that would end the practice of allowing teachers to leave the classroom to work full-time for their union while still drawing a public salary.
GHOST BUSTER: State Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver) will co-author a bill to outlaw the practice that lets teachers leave the classroom to do union work on school time.
“I think we need a legislative action,” Christiana told Watchdog. “In my opinion, this is completely and utterly unfair to the taxpayer to be paying for full-time union employees.”
Through collective bargaining, ghost teachers have been allowed to do union work while also accruing a public pension and school seniority, as if they were still teaching.
In its contract with local teachers, the School District of Philadelphia allows the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to pull up to 63 teachers out of the classroom to work for the union. Other districts in Pennsylvania allow fewer teachers to work for the union under a standard practice known as “release time,” “official time” or “union leave.”
According to a memo sent by the bill’s co-authors to all House members, teachers are needed in the classroom at a time when Pennsylvania school districts are struggling to retain and add new teachers.
“Further, the district has no knowledge of what these teachers are doing while on the public payroll,” according to the memo. “While records show the union is voluntarily reimbursing the district for much of these teachers’ salary and benefits, it is not obligated to do so. Moreover, the state is not entitled, nor has it received, reimbursement for its share of these teachers’ pension—costing state taxpayers more than $1 million since 2000.”
At least 18 Philly public school teachers who never stepped inside a classroom last year made more than $1.7 million. Full-time PFT officers Jerry Jordan and Arlene Kempin have been on leave for more than 30 years.
The PFT reimburses the district for those wages.
“Reimbursing their salary is completely irrelevant and a distraction to the ongoing issue,” Christiana said. “I don’t think the taxpayers should be on the hook for anything. Not to mention, they have to fund the replacement teacher for that classroom.”
Beyond the wages that ghost teachers earn, it is the seniority they accrue that opponents say is harmful to other teachers. This is the basis for a lawsuit filed against the Philadelphia school district and the PFT earlier this year by Americans for Fair Treatment, which argues the practice is unfair to teachers who remain in the classroom to actually teach because of Pennsylvania’s “last in, first out” policy. Teachers with more seniority are protected from being laid off, while less experienced teachers could lose their jobs, regardless of how effective they are, because of the policy.
RELATED: How lawyers plan to bust Philadelphia’s ghost teachers
“It’s absolutely unfair to the rank and file teacher who is working in the classroom, who potentially could be laid off because they have less seniority than these ghost teachers,” Christiana said. “This bill is a no-brainer.”
That ghost teachers lawsuit is ongoing in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. In July, Judge Linda Carpenter ruled that lawyers for Americans for Fair Treatment lacked sufficient facts to support the case, but an appeal was filed this week.
“Students and teachers are hurt by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ insistence on taking qualified teachers from the classroom to work full-time for the union—often for decades at a time,” said David Osborne, general counsel for the Fairness Center, which is representing Americans for Fair Treatment in the lawsuit.
Earlier this year, the Arizona Court of Appeals unanimously ruled the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association wrongfully used taxpayer money to pay union cops who stopped policing so they could work for their union.
“If the union wants employees, they can hire them directly, rather than dipping into the classroom and taking teachers away from students,” Osborne said. “When we meet with Philadelphia teachers, they can’t believe this is happening. That’s why the Fairness Center is litigating to put an end to the union’s abusive ghost teacher practice.”
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on PAIndependent.com. It is republished on Saucon Source with permission.
