Paraeducators Need a Raise!

Paraeducator Rebecca Winters would welcome administrators and legislators to spend a day in the classroom with her or any of her paraeducator colleagues.

"It's easy to make decisions behind a desk," she says. "It's not easy to spend days in a classroom with high-need students and observe how hard this job is-to see how draining it can be, how abusive, and how emotionally exhausting it is to take on challenging students."

Despite these difficulties, the rewards of helping kids are huge. Winters has worked at Hamilton Elementary School, in Port Angeles, Wash., for 20 years, and still loves her job. All she asks is that paraeducators get paid a living wage for the critical services they provide.

Her situation echoes that of paraeducators around the country-and it is not new. The long history of undervaluing paraeducators goes back to the beginning, when these positions were first introduced in schools.

Paraeducators, known as 'teachers aides' in early years, have been underpaid throughout their history. Credit: Historic Photos

"In the 1960s, districts started to bring in school aides, sometimes called teachers' aides, or auxiliaries, who'd eventually become known as paraprofessionals and paraeducators," says Nick Juravich, assistant professor of history and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. "It started with the baby boom years. Suddenly there were a lot more kids in schools, and the hiring of teachers wasn't keeping pace with the amount of students."

Administrators needed more staff, but wanted them to work for less pay. "The purpose was to free up teachers to teach and not get bogged down by disruptions that are inevitable in growing class sizes," Juravich says.

In the late 1960s, New York paraeducators unionized with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). The paraeducator contract of UFT became a model for local unions nationwide, but the problems of low salaries and a lack of respect persist to this day.

But there is some good news. District by district, paraeducators are organizing to get the raises they deserve.

Paras strike in Washington

Just last spring, in Washington state, the Port Angeles School District received a 39.8 percent boost in funding, in part to raise wages for paraeducators and other support staff. But when paras asked for a 3.7 percent cost of living increase, the district refused to give them a raise.

The union went on a weeklong strike, with support from the community and the district's teachers. Finally, they came to a collective bargaining agreement with the district. Paraeducators won about a 3.4 percent increase.

That's progress, but salaries were so low that the raise amounts to an increase of about 50 cents an hour.

Why did it take a strike to get this modest cost of living increase?

It's a profound lack of respect, says Winters, who is president of the Port Angeles Paraeducators Association.

"Paraeducator worth, is outdated and unappreciated," Winters says.

The fight for respect in Massachusetts

On the opposite side of the country, in Massachusetts, paraeducators are also fighting to change this grievous legacy. During the last academic year, Holly Currier earned about $30,000 as an instructional assistant in Andover, Mass., one of the wealthiest towns in the state.

Currier works in seven high school social studies classes, supporting the physical, academic, emotional, and social needs of students who have special education plans. In some classes, she has as many as a dozen students. On the toughest days, it's just about helping them get through the door, she says.

Currier's mother is an instructional assistant (IA) in the same district. She can't afford to continue living in her Andover home, nor can she afford to retire.

"She may not be able to remain here," Currier says.

A rally of Andover paraeducators highlights outlandishly low wages. Credit: Courtesy of Massachusetts Education Association.

The picture is brighter after winning a new contract-a victory fueled by the union's bargaining power. Now Andover's starting pay for IAs has increased from $24,537 to $39,142 per year. By the end of the four-year contract, the highest paid IAs will be earning $50,103.

"It's a significant material gain for those workers, and a statement that we're not going to allow public schools to operate on the exploitation of this workforce," says Andover Education Association President Matt Bach, who notes that almost all IAs are women, and many are People of Color.

Currier, who now earns $33,000 annually, agrees that the contract was transformational, but many employees started from a very low wage.

"There's a really gendered component to this," she says. "That limits the autonomy and choices we have when we end up in the public sector and choose to serve children."

This gendered component is also rooted in the history of the paraeducator profession, Juravich says. "A core and cruel paradox of this work is that while they are seen as critical, they are also seen as 'care workers' … and are feminized," he adds. "Careers that have traditionally been held by women are devalued."

Paraprofessionals play key roles in early education, special education, language acquisition, culturally relevant education, and family engagement, Juravich points out, but they are perpetually underpaid.

"We find ourselves in this moment even today," he says.

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