Sunshine Week: Persistence and public records pay off in tracking double-dipping school chiefs

From Watchdog.org:

A recent New Jersey Watchdog investigation revealed 45 “retired” school chiefs had returned to the public payroll, double-dipping millions of dollars a year from pension funds and local education budgets.

By using a loophole in state law, the retirees landed lucrative, post-retirement jobs as interim, or temporary, superintendents. One example was a superintendent paid $108,230 a year for a three-day work week – in addition to her state pension checks of $131,964 per annum as a retired superintendent.

“It’s the way the system is set up,” said the double-dipper. “I took advantage of it.”