{"id":936906,"date":"2026-07-15T16:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/936906\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:22:20","slug":"as-nyc-paraprofessionals-fight-for-a-wage-hike-students-with-disabilities-pay-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/936906\/","title":{"rendered":"As NYC paraprofessionals fight for a wage hike, students with disabilities pay the price"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Emily Holl, a mother from the Bronx, and her son Matthew know exactly what his mornings are supposed to look like.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Bronx student wakes up early, gets dressed, and waits for the school bus that takes him to P.S. 811X, a District 75 school for students with cognitive and physical disabilities.<\/p>\n

But many days, the bus drives right past his house.<\/p>\n

Matthew, who has autism and is nonverbal, cannot legally ride the bus without a one-to-one paraprofessional, an accommodation required by his individualized education program, or IEP. Yet a citywide shortage of paraprofessionals has repeatedly left him stranded at home and out of school, missing more than half of his 2024-25 school year and about a quarter of this past school year. <\/p>\n

There are about 1,600 para vacancies across New York City, the United Federation of Teachers estimates. The shortage has left some students with disabilities unable to access critical educational services and forced parents to search for answers. Meanwhile, paras have been pushing for a raise, arguing that a salary bump would attract more people to their ranks. <\/p>\n

In 2026, annual salaries for paras hired by the city\u2019s Department of Education ranged from $34,000 to $57,000,<\/a> a range that paras and union leaders say is too low. In an effort to improve pay, the teachers union is pushing to pass legislation that would give paras a $10,000 raise, coined the \u201cRESPECT Check<\/a>.\u201d City Council is expected to vote Thursday on the bill<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On the campaign trail, Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed support for the bill. But after he assumed office, he said wage hikes must be negotiated through collective bargaining <\/a>rather than mandated by City Council legislation. <\/p>\n

The heartbreak of watching his school bus pass by<\/p>\n

Matthew\u2019s IEP outlines the accommodations he is legally entitled to receive, including a para for the bus. The bus matron \u2014 an attendant employed by the bus company \u2014 won\u2019t let Matthew on the bus without his para, his mom said. Instead, they watch as his bus drives past their front door. <\/p>\n

On days when Matthew can\u2019t go to school, his mother struggles too. Holl, a single mother who works from home, can\u2019t take him herself. The activities and social interaction Matthew would normally have at school can\u2019t be replicated at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets confused,\u201d Holl said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for him to understand what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA New York City school bus. (Thu Le for Chalkbeat) <\/p>\n

When Holl and her son first started facing this issue, she said she contacted anyone she thought could help, from special education advocates and school administrators to higher ups at the Education Department. Advocating for her son became a third job alongside playing \u201cteacher\u201d to her son and working remotely, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do that every day,\u201d Holl said. \u201cIt was very difficult for me to get through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents face dropped calls and few answers in school bus crisis<\/p>\n

As the para shortage has persisted, parents have turned to one another for advice on navigating the city\u2019s school transportation system after struggling to get answers from the city.<\/p>\n

In the Facebook group for Parents to Improve School Transportation \u2014 a parent-led organization for guardians, bus drivers, bus paras, and other school transportation staff to share support and advice \u2014 complaints about the para shortage are common.<\/p>\n

In February, one user wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anyone have any knowledge, on who I can contact to ask about getting a bus para for my child. The school has not hired one and they have been giving me excuses since October 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another wrote in June:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow difficult is it to remove a bus para from the IEP? I don\u2019t feel like any of the paras my child has had have been reliable or helpful. Im tired of taking my child to school via a ride-share when they don\u2019t show\u2026 Summer session is short enough without him missing days due to lack of para. What should I do? Do you think the doe will remove it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThe Road to Better Busing Coalition, an alliance of parents, education advocates, and transit justice organizations, gathered at the steps of City Hall to demand improvements to New York City’s public school transportation on Sept. 22, 2025. (Thu Le for Chalkbeat) <\/p>\n

Parents say finding answers can be difficult. Eight in 10 parents who contacted their bus company with complaints or questions received no resolution, according to a November 2025 parent survey by the Citywide Council for District 75. Parents also reported reaching disconnected lines when calling the complaint hotline run by the Office of Pupil Transportation, the city entity responsible for public school transportation. In the 2023-24 school year, more than 5,000 complaints were made about dropped calls, a staggering 366%<\/a> increase from 2021. <\/p>\n

Holl said she began searching for answers at the start of the 2024-25 school year, emailing \u201ceverybody and their mother every day he wasn\u2019t at school.\u201d She said it took five to six months before Matthew was assigned a bus para.<\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

According to UFT, students can receive bus para assignments through school staff, citywide job postings, or third-party agencies contracted by the city\u2019s school system. Eventually, Matthew was assigned a para at the end of the school year who stayed with him through summer session.<\/p>\n

The para, an employee of contracted agency RCM Healthcare Services, was professional and caring, Holl said. \u201cMy son even had a seizure on the bus. She took care of him. I trusted her. Everything was great,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the arrangement did not last. Holl said Matthew\u2019s school later ended its contract with the agency in September 2025, forcing her to begin searching for a para again. After that, she said, RCM assigned substitute paras for Matthew, but it was still a gamble whether or not he went to school. Sometimes, paras didn\u2019t show or sometimes they were not a good fit for Matthew, said Holl. Almost always, their assignment was never permanent, which could be disruptive for Matthew, she said. \u201cHe\u2019s not just a number,\u201d Holl said. \u201cHe\u2019s a person. And he\u2019s a child that\u2019s suffering because he can\u2019t get what he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

How high demands and low wages keep paras away<\/p>\n

Monica Roman, a classroom and bus para at The Bronx School for Continuous Learners, said the shortage has shown how vital yet undersupported these positions are. \u201cThey\u2019re constantly hiring. There\u2019s always a need for paras,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

New paras begin as substitutes, earning a daily rate of $188<\/a>. To become full-time salaried employees, substitutes must work at least 25 days and obtain the New York state assistant teaching certification. But whether a substitute is hired into a full-time position depends on school budgets and vacancies, according to the city\u2019s Department of Education. \u201cThe benefits are not enough. It\u2019s peanuts. We have families,\u201d Roman said.<\/p>\n

\"APriscilla Castro, UFT’s paraprofessional chapter chairperson spoke at a rally in support of the paraprofessional “RESPECT Check” bill. The rally was held at City Hall on Nov. 13, 2025. (Courtesy of Pat Arnow \/ UFT) <\/p>\n

Priscilla Castro, UFT\u2019s paraprofessional chapter chairperson, said the para pay bill is necessary for the 26,000 paras in New York City. \u201cWe are not able to sustain this profession,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Safety is another concern for many paras, Castro said. In the mornings, bus paras travel to students\u2019 homes and wait outside until the bus arrives, which can be dangerous for those assigned to neighborhoods they consider unsafe, Castro said. Long commutes and distant assignments can also make positions less desirable, Roman added.<\/p>\n

The city has made some progress recruiting workers, Castro said. Hiring fairs across the boroughs allow prospective paras to complete assessments, interview with principals, and meet with union representatives in one place. <\/p>\n

But recruitment doesn\u2019t guarantee retention, especially without sustainable pay for a difficult job, Roman said. \u201cYou need to learn about different diagnoses, special needs, autism, and you have to take an assistant teaching exam,\u201d Roman said about the responsibilities of paras. \u201cThere are a lot of things you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thu Le is a recent graduate of Columbia University\u2019s Graduate School of Journalism. This piece is adapted from her thesis for the program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":936907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,40980,998,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,79747,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,186322],"class_list":["post-936906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-chalkbeat","tag-freelance","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-school-bus","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-yellow-school-bus"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116924918650307112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}