NEW YORK, NY April 29, 2008 —The city is spending more than $80 million dollars over two years on unassigned teachers. A new report by an educational group is recommending new rules for those teachers who've lost jobs to school closings but remain on the payroll.

REPORTER: The union contract now assigns out-of-work teachers to be available as substitutes or temporary replacements. They collect full teacher salary and benefits whether or not they are in a classroom...and they're not obligated to look for work.

Tim Daly heads the New Teacher Project. He says the teachers who do not quickly find work are often the least desirable candidates:

DALY: Teachers who haven't been able to find a position for quite some time, are probably going to find their way into our highest needs schools. I think that as an issue of educational equity and as an issue of civil rights that's an unacceptable solution.

REPORTER: Daly suggests the Department of Education limit the terms of reserve-pool teachers to one year, like in the Chicago schools. DOE officials back the report but Teachers' Union President Randi Weingarten says the proposals would punish teachers who are out of work through no fault of their own.