Watchdog.org Podcast

This is “Sit Down And Shut Up,” Watchdog.org’s podcast examining education issues at the national, state and local levels. Host Ben Yount takes a critical look at the education establishment, the growth of school choice and the ways free markets can be a part of fixing America’s broken school system. This week, Yount chats with Watchdog reporter Evan Grossman, who authored an investigation into so-called "ghost teachers" in Philadelphia.  Ghost teachers are public school employees, paid by the taxpayers, who work full-time for the local teachers' union.  In some cases, Grossman reveals, these teachers have not set foot in a classroom for more than a decade, but they continue to collect pay and accrue pension benefits. Even the new Secretary of Education is a former ghost teacher.