Pennsylvania Union Boondoggle Challenged

In many schools taxpayer dollars are used to fund union officials who earn credit as if they were working, and they are working: for the union, not the schools.  The Fairness Center in Harrisburg, PA, and American for Fair Treatment are filing a lawsuit in Pennsylvania to stop the practice.  Michael Carroll has the story in PennsylvaniaWatchdog.org.

An Oklahoma City-based nonprofit group called Americans for Fair Treatment filed the lawsuit against the Reading School District with the help of the Fairness Center in Harrisburg. The lawsuit charges that since 2011, more than $500,000 in tax funds have been used to pay for “ghost teachers,” or those who are paid as if they had jobs in public classrooms but are actually employed by the Reading Education Association.

The plaintiffs are seeking the return of the funds, including more than $400,000 in salaries, about $50,000 in pension contributions and about $73,000 in health benefits.  They allege the funds were illegally funneled to officers of the union local.