#UFT offering teachers $25 per hour to sell in-person schooling

As enrollment in city public schools plummets, the teachers’ union is offering members cold hard cash to coax students back this fall.

In a recent email to members, the United Federation of Teachers offered to pay $25 per hour to make house visits “to encourage a return to in-person learning for all students during the 2021-2022 school year.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced back in May that schools would reopen this fall — without a remote option.

But, as The Post has exclusively reported, enrollment in city schools nosedived through the pandemic.

As of June 25, the last day of school, the daily “register” showed enrollment of just 887,612 in 1,584 schools, according to internal Department of Education records reviewed by The Post.

That’s down from 1.03 million in the 2019-2020 academic year. The high-water mark came in 2000-2001, with 1.11 million kids enrolled.

The DOE said another 65,000 kids were enrolled in privately run and District Pre-K centers, alternative evening programs where students can earn GED diplomas, and at home or in hospitals, but would not give up-to-date numbers.

DOE spokespersons refused to release the latest enrollment, citing only an “audited” tally of 955,500 from Nov. 13, 2020, when the school year began.

If the charm offensive is meant to help the city DOE reverse sagging enrollment, the union stands to benefit. Fewer students means fewer dues-paying teachers are needed.

The program entails 10 four-hour shifts, plus a one-day training session where “lunch will be provided,” according to the email.

Members must be “comfortable with having face to face, one-to-one, socially distanced conversations with parents and community members at their homes,” the email said.

“So you want to pay me with my own dues, to go to random peoples’ homes, to sell in-person schooling in the Bronx?” one city teacher griped to The Post.

“I don’t understand how UFT can even pay us,” the teacher said. “Central [DOE] should be paying.”

A UFT rep told The Post: “There is no substitute for in-person instruction. NYC educators want their students physically in front of them this fall. They know parents have questions and so this is just one way educators are reaching out to families to address their concerns.”

The rep added that the union compiled a list of “likely parents” from voter-registration information, which is public.

Demott Myrie — a member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators, a progressive caucus of the UFT — told The Post, “I’m totally against it.”

Myrie said it was imprudent to promote house visits, as COVID-19 cases rise with the spread of the new Delta variant. Myrie’s group has resisted the return to in-person schooling, citing COVID-19 risks.

Myrie — who in 2019 unsuccessfully challenged UFT President Michael Mulgrew — suggested the side-gig could be a perk for friends of union leadership. The union “using our dues to now subsidize chosen people,” he said.