School Committee Demands Answers in Massive Unemployment Costs
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
A total of 27 teachers, long-term substitutes, tutors and clerical staff took home more than $75,000 in jobless benefits after getting layoff notices in June, said Brian Allen, chief financial officer for the city’s schools.
By the fall or earlier, however, they had all landed other jobs in the school system after other positions had opened up due to retirements and other issues, he said.
The revelation comes amid increasing concern over a spike in unemployment payments shelled out by Worcester schools over the past few years.
The Worcester School Committee is expected to take up the issue at its regular scheduled meeting Thursday evening.
“We would rather have not spent it unemployment,” Allen said. We would have rather kept in in the classroom.”
Rising payments
The numbers were released in response to queries from GoLocalWorcester.
All told, unemployment payments by Worcester schools hit $880,000 in fiscal 2011.
Faced with yearly budget deficits, city school administrators have had to cut dozens of teaching jobs over the past few years.
But amid the cuts, there have also been concerns that some teachers and employees were effectively picking up a summer bonus amid shifting school budget plans.
The issue is expected to be debated Thursday night, with Brian O’Connnell, a school committee member, seeking a broader review of the school district's unemployment payments and policies.
Allen acknowledged there may have been similar payments made in earlier years as well to teachers who received layoff notices in June, only to get rehired in the fall. State law requires school systems to notify employees by June 15 that they won’t be coming back the next year.
However, the school budget is often still in flux, with grants rolling in over the summer, as well as retirements by veteran teachers who decide in July or August to call it a day, he said.
Closing a loophole
That said, Allen said he would like to see Beacon Hill close what amounts to a loophole that allows teachers to collect unemployment before their pay runs out.
Teachers pick up weekly paychecks through the year, even during the summer when they are officially off duty.
The exception is when they are laid off – the district pays their summer compensation in a lump sum.
Allen said he’s like to see new state rules that would prevent teachers come collecting unemployment until August, when their pay would normally run out.
Under current state law, though, there is nothing to stop teachers and other school employees from collecting right after they get layoff notices in June.
Of the 27 school district employees who picked up unemployment checks last summer, only to get rehired, 17 were teachers, with the remaining 10 tutors, subs and clerical staff.
Larger problem
Still, Worcester school officials are not alone in their questioning of unemployment expenses.
The city’s auditor, James DelSignore, was one of several finance officials from cities and towns across the state who recently signed onto a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick raising concerns about potential abuses of jobless benefits by public employees.
The letter pointed to examples that not only included school employees picking up unemployment compensation during the summer, but also police officers getting checks after hitting the mandatory retirement age of 65.
The Patrick Administration has appointed a blue ribbon panel to examine changes in state law that could close some of the unemployment loopholes, though the recommendations are not likely until June.
Yet there may be better news on the way for Worcester taxpayers, with city schools on their way to working through the painful restructuring the triggered many of the claims, Allen said.
“We anticipate the number of unemployment claims going down,” he said.
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