Districts pay union heads who don't teach

Nearly four-fifths of all teachers union presidents on Long Island do not teach a full load of classes or handle routine tasks like cafeteria duty, but they still collect full-time salaries and benefits paid, in most cases, by the taxpayer.

In eight districts, teachers union presidents are allowed under contracts to not teach any classes but instead work full-time for the teachers union, according to data compiled by Newsday.

Taxpayers are footing the bill in most of Long Island's 122 unionized districts for the union leaders' salaries and for the cost of hiring additional teachers to pick up their work. And because of a guarantee in state law, union leaders are entitled to full public pensions and health benefits, whether they spend a few hours or their entire workday on union business.

Getting paid to conduct union business during the workday, a practice known as release time, is long established and negotiated by individual union locals. Unions are not required to reimburse the districts for release time. About 22 percent of the New York State United Teachers locals on Long Island reimburse their districts for part or all of their union leaders' release time.

But as school districts struggle with the fallout from reduced state aid, staff layoffs, escalating pension costs and staying within the mandated 2 percent cap on property tax increases, critics call the practice of release time an outdated giveaway that districts can no longer afford.

"These things, when the money was flowing, were always overlooked," said Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James), who has been critical of some teachers union practices. "Now, people are seeing the real cost to these issues that didn't seem significant before, but they certainly are now."

Some school administrators and union officials say release time helps districts operate more smoothly, by enabling them to meet during the workday and handle problems quickly. In the Deer Park school district, where union leader Bruce Sander has three periods a day to attend to union business, Superintendent Eva J. Demyen said it was a collectively bargained agreement that was useful to the district.

"We find good value in the balance we have struck in Deer Park," she said in an email.

Tallying the costs

A review of school district contracts and other data obtained by Newsday through Freedom of Information Law requests shows:

Union presidents' release time in local districts in the 2010-2011 school year is valued at an estimated $6.3 million. That figure includes the money districts pay to these teachers even though they are not teaching a full schedule, along with the cost of hiring additional teachers, based on the average teacher salary schedule in Nassau and Suffolk compiled by the Hauppauge law firm of Ingerman Smith, which specializes in school law. It does not include the cost of health and pension benefits and does not include the cost of release time for union officials other than union presidents.

Union presidents frequently are relieved of duty periods such as cafeteria or homeroom. Administrators say the cost of that time to the district is negligible.

An estimated 23 districts receive partial or full reimbursement from the unions to cover the cost of hiring replacements, according to a review of labor contracts. In the eight districts where labor agreements say union presidents do not have to teach, two -- Smithtown and Three Village -- get reimbursed fully by the union locals.

Long Island teachers union presidents get release time more than their counterparts elsewhere in New York. One-third, or 230 of the 695 districts statewide, provide release time to union leaders. Of those, 103 are on Long Island, according to figures supplied by NYSUT.

In Westchester, for example, only one of the county's 47 districts -- Yonkers -- offers its union president the option of full release time. District spokeswoman Maura Lamoreaux said the current union president is the only one to have taken advantage of that option. Previous union presidents taught two periods a day.

Union presidents are among the highest paid and most senior teachers in their districts, with annual public salaries averaging $115,864 in the last school year, according to a review of pay records. In addition, many union officials receive additional pay from the union. That extra pay is not included in pension calculations.

All but one of the 122 union locals on Long Island declined to release the amount of those stipends to Newsday. Unions are not subject to the Freedom of Information Law.

Other union officials

Release time is not limited to union presidents. In Deer Park, for example, the union vice president gets one period a day, and other union officers a total of 50 days in the school year to handle union business, according to the contract. The union pays for the cost of hiring substitutes for officers other than the president and vice president.

Release time does not interfere with a union president's ability to earn extra money from the district by taking on extracurricular activities. In Port Jefferson, union president Laurie McMillen, who gets released from one teaching period each day for union activities, made a base salary of about $128,00 last year, according to a district spokesman. She earned nearly an additional $18,000 for extracurricular activities, bringing her total pay to $145,565.

District Superintendent Kenneth Bossert said in a statement that the release time is justified. "Our union leader spending 80 percent of her time in the classroom, and 20 percent engaged in a myriad of important district-based issues."

Even as some districts have laid off teachers and cut music and sports programs to reduce costs, few have tried trimming union release time. The William Floyd school district in Mastic Beach cut back on it last year.

The district negotiated a change when a new union president, Ron Gross, took office last year. The previous president, Karen D'Esposito, worked full time for the union; Gross teaches one class and earned $122,801 last year. The cost to the district of that release time is about $100,000 a year, said Superintendent Paul Casciano.

"I think that's a luxury we really can't afford in this day and age, to have a teacher whose only responsibility is to represent the union," Casciano said.

The sheer size of NYSUT makes the impact of release time significant, when compared with other public unions. There are 24 locals of the Police Benevolent Association on Long Island, compared with 122 NYSUT locals.

NYSUT, with 600,000 members statewide, has political action committees that contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly to candidates statewide. NYSUT's website says the union requires each of its locals to designate people willing to go to Albany and lobby. It is able to quickly mobilize teachers, whether it's for sign-waving demonstrations or to staff phone banks.

'Cost neutral' argument

Top union officials of other public worker unions, such as the CSEA and Public Employees Federation, say they typically reimburse employers for the release time of their state and regional union leaders. State NYSUT officials say reimbursement is a matter for local collective bargaining. And they argue that release time is "cost-neutral," or that the cost is offset by savings elsewhere.

"Instead of having a formal grievance or formal arbitration procedure that requires the hiring of attorneys, we have superintendents and union presidents troubleshooting," NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn said. If every labor dispute resulted in formal action, "it would cost taxpayers far more."

But E.J. McMahon, senior fellow of the Albany-based Empire Center for New York State Policy, countered, "Just because it's useful doesn't mean the taxpayers should be paying for it."

Taxpayers are also paying for the public benefits of union officials who are working on union business. Under a 1984 state law, union leaders who work full time for their unions are entitled to full health and public pension benefits.

Joseph Hogan, for example, served as president of the Brentwood Teachers Association -- the largest local on Long Island with 1,464 members -- for 29 years. When he first became president, he said he taught one, and then two, fewer periods, in order to handle union business. For his last nine years on the payroll, he did not teach at all, and the union did not reimburse the district for his salary.

In July 2010, Hogan retired from teaching with an annual pension of $128,568, according to the state Teachers Retirement System. He remains as union president.

In an interview, Hogan said he needed the release time as the district's problems became more complex. "Many times what happens is you get pulled out of class, and it wasn't fair to the students to not have a teacher there every day," he said.

As for his pension, he said, "That is part of the benefits of all teachers."

Mel Stern, who served on the NYSUT board of directors before retiring from that position in April of last year, said he worked many evenings and weekends on union business and that release time was a critical tool.

"Most of what I did, and most of what leaders do, is work together with the district to solve problems," he said, adding, "We're teachers first."

PAY FOR UNION CHIEFS

Eight school districts provide union presidents with full release time to work on union matters. Listed is each union local president, the school district and the president's 2011 district pay.

Tristram Stewart, Commack; $103,598 (The union reimburses the district 30 percent of his salary.)

Thomas Barry, East Islip; $117,834 (The union gives the district $15,000 in partial reimbursement.)

Vincent E. Giglio, Longwood; $147,441 (The union gives the district $54,085 in partial reimbursement.)

Antoinette Blanck, Northport; $92,663 (The union gives the district $17,500 in partial

reimbursement.)

Tim Southerton, Sayville; $130,875 (The union pays half the cost of hiring substitute

teachers.)

Claudia Reinhart, Three Village; $127,828 (The union reimburses the district for her full salary

and benefits.)

Richard Forzano, Smithtown; $111,417 (The union reimburses the district for his full salary

and benefits.)

Joseph Hogan, Brentwood; received full release time for nine years as union president before retiring in 2010. He remains union president. He collects a $128,568 annual pension.