Rhee's budget surplus revelation angers teachers unions

[tonysam]

Once a liar, always a liar:

Teachers union leaders angrily accused D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee of unethical behavior Tuesday by failing to disclose the discovery of a $34 million surplus in the school system budget in February, three months after laying off 266 teachers because of what she described as a budget shortfall.

News of the surplus comes at a critical time for Rhee and the teachers union, who just last week announced a tentative contract agreement that ended more than two years of often rancorous bargaining. The two sides were close to a deal late last summer when union anger over Rhee's plans for layoffs delayed its completion.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker said Rhee's disclosure of the extra money -- at a Tuesday morning discussion with the D.C. Council about the contract -- renews questions about the legitimacy of the October layoffs, which sparked bitter protests and an unsuccessful union lawsuit. Teachers charged that Rhee contrived the budget crisis by hiring more than 900 teachers in the spring and summer of 2009, and then targeting older instructors for layoffs. A D.C. Superior Court judge rejected the union's claims.

Weingarten and Parker demanded Tuesday that Rhee reinstate the laid-off educators or face a renewed court challenge to the legality of the job reductions.

Washington Post