(New York, NY) – Education leaders rallied at City Hall on Thursday to push for more assistance in the classrooms, especially when it comes to students with disabilities. Teachers, parents and students all pushed for new city legislation that would give some financial support to the paraprofessionals. Some members of the city council, with the backing of the United Federation of Teachers, have announced plans to put forth a bill giving paraprofessionals an extra $10,000 each year as so-called “respect checks”.
Union leaders estimate that 1,600 paraprofessional positions are vacant. The starting salary is around $32,000 a year, about half of what city teachers earn annually. The head of the UFT, Michael Mulgrew, says struggles with recruitment and retention are directly related to the low salary. Education leaders say that students suffer without sufficient staffing, citing some extreme cases where kids were unable to attend school since they did not have an aide to ride the bus with them.
