The fight for a living wage for our paraprofessionals continued both through CSEA as well as through our allies in Recovery For All. Part of our fight is educating legislators and the general public about the important work paras do, the short staffing crisis Connecticut is facing with paras and the low wages and benefits they receive. Cynthia Ross-Zweig, our Para Council President, often does interviews with the press to get that information out. This month she met with Emilia Otte of the CT Examiner to discuss the para shortage, below is an excerpt from her interview. 

Cynthia Ross-Zweig, a paraprofessional at New Fairfield High School and president of the paraprofessionals’ union, said the major issue was pay. The starting salary for a paraeducator, she said, ranged from $15 per hour to $28 per hour in the wealthier districts, and they often don’t receive adequate benefits. Additionally, paraprofessionals are not able to collect unemployment during the summer. 

“You have to look at that and say, how can somebody survive on that type of an income?” Ross Zweig said. “It’s not a question that they don’t like the work or that the work isn’t rewarding. It’s quite rewarding.” 

Ross-Zweig said while the state offers grants to school districts to help with special education costs, very little of that money goes to paraprofessionals. She said she knew paraprofessionals who worked multiple jobs just to pay the bills.

While Benhaven offers good benefits, professional development and the possibility for year-round work,  Helene said she feels the school’s starting salary – at $17.25 per hour – can’t compete with some of the public schools. 

Both Helene and Ross-Zweig said the paraprofessional shortage was also creating a feedback loop, in which the remaining paraprofessionals in a school were taking on more work and consequently burning out more quickly. 

“They’re compounding the situation. That’s exactly what’s happening. … You’re giving more work to a lesser amount of people,” Ross-Zweig said. “And then you have people that perhaps have worked in the district for many, many years and are at the point where they’re just going to retire. … If you’re only paying $15 an hour or $16 an hour, you’re not going to fill that spot.”