Teachers in ‘reserve’ limbo cost $136M

A controversial cadre of unassigned public school teachers costs the city $136 million a year and needs an overhaul from Mayor de Blasio, a new a government watchdog report says.

The city’s so-called Absent Teacher Reserve, which de Blasio has vowed to fix for years, topped out at 1,202 employees as of the start of this school year, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission published Thursday.

Those teachers lack permanent classroom assignments and work as roving substitutes but still get full pay. The arrangement has drawn criticism because the unassigned teachers usually earn far more than typical substitutes.

In her report, Citizens Budget Commission researcher Ana Champeny calls on the mayor to address the matter in a new teachers union contract to replace the one that expires in November.

“The city should use this round of negotiations to constrain, or preferably eliminate, the ATR,” Champeny wrote. “(It) provides no incentive for unmotivated or unsuitable teachers to secure new permanent placements.”

Tenured teachers may be assigned to the reserve pool under circumstances that include a downsized school. But one in three teachers in the pool landed there following legal or disciplinary problems.