23 LI school districts have private lawyers on rolls

Twenty-three school districts -- nearly one-fifth of all the school districts on Long Island -- improperly reported private attorneys as employees, which helped the attorneys earn public pensions totaling more than $342,082 a year, plus health benefits worth thousands more, a Newsday review of records has found.

BY SANDRA PEDDIE AND EDEN LAIKIN

March 28, 2008