Ghost teachers: Exorcise them

A lawsuit against the Reading School District and its teachers union exposes the practice of “ghost teachers” for what it is: a union sop that's allowed at the detriment and expense of taxpayers.

More than 20 percent of Pennsylvania's 500 public school districts, including about three dozen in Southwestern Pennsylvania, allow teachers to leave classrooms and work full time for their union while at the same time accruing pension and seniority benefits, according to the Commonwealth Foundation. The Fairness Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Americans for Fair Treatment, a nonprofit group dedicated to public employee rights, seeking to end ghost teaching in Reading and compel the teachers union to return taxpayer money to the district.

The plaintiffs estimate that since 2011, more than $500,000 has been “siphoned away from the classroom to pay the president of the union to not teach students,” according to Karin Sweigart, deputy general counsel for The Fairness Center. A separate formal complaint requests that the Public School Employees' Retirement System rescind any pension credits accrued by Reading teachers while working for their union.

Separate from the litigation, pending legislation in the state House and Senate would limit teachers from being diverted from classroom instruction to union duties.

The ghost-teachers perk is a door that should have never been opened. Here's to closing it, permanently.