Why would a BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) report to the state Retirement System that its part-time contract lawyers are full-time salaried employees?

For the likely answer, please see my column in today’s (Thursday’s) Gazette.

In brief, it’s because the school districts that participate in a BOCES get reimbursed by the state for using BOCES-provided lawyers for their labor negotiations but only if those lawyers are full-time employees.

So it’s in everyone’s interest to pretend that free-lance lawyers working on contract are full-time – except of course for us taxpayers, who wind up providing lucrative pension benefits to people who don’t deserve them.

It is one more example of the state gravy train. All aboard, except for those stuck in the station.