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Not one of the teachers standing in line outside the Oak Room in Park Slope Monday had a permanent job at a school, but they're all still paid by the Department of Education at an estimated cost of $127 million.

"I have been teaching for 13 years. I also have three degrees, I have my BA, I have my masters in reading, and I have my masters in school building leadership. And I have no position in that I don't have children to teach," said unemployed teacher Pearl Voulkidis.

Voulkidis is among the 1,500 teachers in the so-called reserve pool who have worked at schools that have either shut down or lowered their enrollment. Others were let go when school budgets were cut, but union rules keep unemployed tenured teachers on the payroll.

"Right now, they are doing substitute work. What they really want is to be placed in full time teaching positions, said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.

Ironically, there are more than a thousand vacant teaching positions in the city. Hiring fairs like the one in Brooklyn are designed to encourage principals to hire from the reserve pool. But the teachers say that it is still not easy to find a job.

"When I mentioned the name Franklin K. Lane High school, I saw the shutter go down over people's eyes. They didn't want to interview anyone from a failing school," said unemployed teacher Lawrence Zajac.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein say to succeed, principals need to be able to pick their staffs. But in an email last week, Klein told principals that he might take away some of their funding if they don't fill vacant positions from the reserve pool by the end of October.

In his email, Klein said, "Nobody dislikes this situation more than I do. Limiting your hiring freedom goes against what I stand for, but because of the economic reality we must control costs and protect our schools from deeper budget cuts."

Many of the reserve teachers said that the system is still stacked against them.

"I am at the top of the salary scale and principals could really have two teachers for the price of one and that is where the difficulty lies," said one out-of-work teacher.

Klein says he wants principals to make their own decisions on hiring, but the human and financial costs of the reserve pool raise serious questions.

The teachers union contract is up for renegotiation this fall, and lifelong tenure is expected to be be one of the main sticking points.