PHILADELPHIA – Sixteen Philadelphia “ghost teachers” collect a full salary, benefits, seniority and pension from taxpayers but work full-time for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union.

The Fairness Center, a legal service for employees wronged by unions, is now suing the cash-strapped school district in an effort to force it to drop the $1.5 million annual expense, Watchdog.org reports.

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“Teachers should be paid to teach,” Fairness Center attorney Kara Swiegart told the news site.

“At a time when school districts are hurting financially, districts should be devoting every tax dollar to support students,” she said, “not to pay the salaries of employees of a private political organization.”

Currently, the School District of Philadelphia’s contract with the PFT allows the union to remove up to 63 teachers from the classroom full-time to promote the union’s political agenda and share it with teachers at individual schools. The district continues to pay the educators on “union release time” a full salary, as well as all benefits and pension contributions, as they continue to accrue seniority and pay increases, according to Watchdog.

The PFT claims to reimburse the school district for the expense, but has not provided documentation showing it has done so and the news site has been unable to confirm the claim.

“According to public salary data available through Philadelphia city agencies, the school district is paying 16 ghost teachers $1.5 million this year. All of them are making at least $81,000,” Watchdog reports.

“PFT Vice President Arlene Kempin, who has been on release time since 1983, is among the highest paid at $108,062. Union head Jerry Jordan, who has also been on release time for more than 30 years, is earning $81,245, according to district payroll logs. The 16 ghost teachers on the books this year are making an average salary of almost $98,000.

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“Last year, a Watchdog investigation found 18 Philly ghost teachers making more than $1.7 million.”

EAGnews has documented the union release time expense in dozens of major school districts across the nation over the years, as well as other questionable spending practices.

The Harrisburg-based Fairness Center is suing both the Philadelphia and Allentown school districts over union release time expenses, and the lawsuit in Philadelphia was initially dismissed and is currently scheduled for oral arguments in an appeal before the Commonwealth Court.

“While the PFT says it reimburses the School District of Philadelphia for its ghost teachers, it has yet to provide documentation to support that claim, despite repeated requests from Watchdog. The Allentown Education Association is not obligated to pay the local school district anything for financing the salary and benefits of its president,” according to the news site.

Both Philadelphia and Allentown schools suffer from chronic budget problems that have forced teacher layoffs in recent years.

Meanwhile, two bills – one in the state House and the other in the state Senate – aim to address the unnecessary union release time expense.

“Legislation to ban ghost teachers has also been introduced in Maine, Michigan, Nevada and Washington, according to the Goldwater Institute. In addition to Pennsylvania, lawsuits challenging ghost public employees have been filed in Idaho and Michigan,” Watchdog reports.