CINCINNATI, Ohio – Runaway labor costs in school districts are usually the result of strong local teachers unions bullying weak-willed local school boards, one contract at a time.

But in Ohio, when it comes to crucial policies regarding paid teacher absences, the state government has proven to be the biggest enemy.

An Ohio state law gives most employees of public school districts a full 15 paid sick days per academic year, which in most districts is somewhere between 180-190 days.

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That’s significantly more than the 10-12 sick days that most public schools give their teachers and other employees, even in situations where the policies are hammered out through collective bargaining between school boards and unions.

Another state law guarantees employees a nice payout of their unused sick days upon retirement.

Those generous state policies have predictably led to unnecessarily high costs. The law also contributes to the loss of student learning that comes from excessive teacher absence.

On the financial side, one very good example is the Cincinnati school district, which in 2013-14 reported spending a combined $22.2 million on salary for absent employees, substitute costs and compensation for unused sick days.

That’s hardly a good investment for a district that was facing an estimated $14.8 million budget deficit last year.

The district reported 122,286 hours of sick day absences for teachers and administrators in 2013-14. Based on a typical 7.5 hour day, that comes out to 16,304 sick days. With 2,407 employees in that category, the average is 6.7 sick days per employee.

Averages can be deceiving. Some teachers and administrators will take full advantage of available sick days, while others will take hardly any at all. The trick is to make fewer available for those who will use as many as they can.

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Teachers and administrators were paid a total of $5.9 million for their sick day absences.

The schools are partially to blame for these kinds of costs, as well. While they are stuck with the state-mandated sick day policy, they also negotiate policies with local unions that lead to further absenteeism and even higher costs.

The Cincinnati teachers union contract gives “three personal leave days to all teachers who are employed before Sept. 30 in the school year.” Those personal days, combined with the 15 sick days, gives teachers a license to be absent with pay for 18 days, which is about 10 percent of the entire nine-month school year.

In 2013-14, Cincinnati teachers and administrators took 3,791 personal days, which averages out to 1.5 per employee. The district paid those employees $1.3 million for being absent on personal days.

As a result of all of this, the district had to spend $3.9 million on substitute teachers.

Then the state steps in and costs the schools even more money every year with its law pertaining to unused sick leave conversion for retirees.

According to the law, teachers hired before May 22, 2004 can accrue unused sick days without limit, while the others can accrue up to 200.

Retiring employees hired before that date are allowed to cash in half of their unused sick days at their final daily rate of pay. Those retirees hired after that date cash in one quarter of their unused sick days.

The Cincinnati teachers union contract also rewards five extra sick days to employees who announce their early retirements by a certain date every year. Those can be cashed in at retirement, as well.

All of the above adds up. In 2013-14, the Cincinnati district paid out $8.5 million in compensation for unused sick days.

It doesn’t end there. The district also paid civil service employees about $2.5 million in salary for sick and personal days they took.

Other smaller districts in the Cincinnati area have similar issues.

The Forest Hills district approximately $1.7 million on salary for absent teachers in 2013-14, along with $521,930 in substitute costs and $540,756 in compensation for unused sick days.

The Mason district did not indicate how much salary it paid to absent teachers, but reported paying $679,543 in substitute costs and $449,584 in compensation for unused sick days.