The New York City Department of Education said Thursday it would pay $1.8 million in buyout packages for 115 teachers and other staff who had stayed on the payroll even though they had no permanent jobs.
The move aims to reduce an oft-criticized pool of tenured teachers called the Absent Teacher Reserve who lingered in limbo, often for years, after school closures or disciplinary proceedings made it hard for them to get lasting assignments. Many bounce around as substitutes.
The department said employees leaving the pool earned about $93,000 a year, on average, and would get an average of nine weeks’ pay. It said the group departing would have cost $15 million in the coming year, including benefits.
The new United Federation of Teachers contract, ratified in June, enabled such buyouts. A city analysis last summer said the pool of nearly 1,200 teachers cost at least $105 million in the 2012-13 school year in salaries and benefits—after counting the savings from not hiring regular substitutes.