N.J. School Employees Who Make $100K - On Top Of Pensions

It's perfectly legal - and perhaps a little common - for New Jersey employees to find another $100,000-a-year school job while still earning $50,000 a year from a past school job.

An NJ Spotlight report found 20 “Temporary Employment Service” workers were paid more than $75,000 by state Department of Education last year while they received checks from the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund.

Of those, 11 make more than $100,000 while receiving at least $50,000 from the DOE, according to NJ Spotlight.

They are (with new salary listed first, and pension listed second):

1. KARSEN, RONALD K $138,300.00, $97,916.04 Newark PS
2. COYLE, CATHERINE V $126,240.00, $73,765.68 Jersey City
3. PS LAMONTE, ROSALIE $123,400.00, $83,052.36 Mount Olive BOE
4. DAVIS, ROBERT H $122,900.00, $57,870.84 Montclair BOE
5. MORANA, LAURA C $120,000.00, $93,721.56 Red Bank BOE
6. BORKES, FRANCES $116,950.00, $58,383.00 Middlesex Co Vocational
7. ZARRA, JOSEPH S $116,886.00, $92,849.52 Nutley BOE
8. STEPURA, RICHARD M $114,800.00, $78,405.72 Northfield BOE
9. MCDOWELL, JOSEPHINE $114,500.00, $90,601.44 Newark PS
10. ALTERSITZ, AVE $109,664.00, $69,096.96 Kingsway Regional
11. OKUM, ILIANA $107,850.00, $58,687.68 Pemberton Twp BOE

The report comes from prominent investigative journalist Mark Lagerkvist, a former special projects reporter at The Asbury Park Press who also worked at CNBC.

DOE spokesman Michael Yaple said the number of temporary service employees used by the Department of Education has decreased substantially; in 2007, there were 347 temporary service employees, and in 2014 it was 157.

"The largest category of temporary service employees used by the Department of Education work at the Katzenbach School for the Deaf, who serve in roles such as substitute teachers for students with hearing issues (55 of the 157 temporary service employees employees in 2014 were for the Katzenbach School for the Deaf)," he said in an email.

He also said:

"After the number of workers at the Katzenbach School for the Deaf, the next largest areas for the use of temporary service employees are for the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance, which investigates, monitors and audits issues in local school districts, and the County Offices of Education, which are typically supervised by retired superintendents who provide services to superintendents and other administrators in local school districts."

Yaple said this practice" is not unique to the Department of Education. Departments throughout state government use this approach to provide specialized services; it has been in use for years, and it is handled in a manner consistent with previous administrations."

The average yearly compensation for all temporary service employees at the NJDOE in fiscal 2014 was $37,756, he said.

And, on the issue of state pensions in general, earlier this year Patch published a list of 100 ex-N.J, school district employees who make more than $120,000 a year on their annual pension payment - just as the overall payout to thousands of ex-employees continues to grow at a big rate.

Fixing the state's pension system has been an important goal of the Christie administration since the governor took office in 2010. But judging by the amount of money that's going out to ex-employees, the governor may still have a long way to go.

When 2015 ended, 2,296 retirees were collecting six-figure pensions from state pension plans - a 131 percent increase above 2010, when the count was 992.

Click here to see a list of 100 ex-school district employees who make more than $120,000 a year, getting it from the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund, which is open to employees of boards of education. The list includes their district name and payout.