She’s worked as a paraprofessional at a North Texas elementary school for more than 20 years. For about half of those years, her salary was so low, that she qualified for the federally-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“I got food stamps because I didn’t make enough,” said the paraprofessional, who requested anonymity because she is not authorized to speak about school policy or salary.
Eventually, her salary tipped her out of range, but the need was still there. “That is when the struggle started to hit because the government assistance looks at your gross. They don’t look at what is coming out. So that is when I noticed and started seeing the struggle because I didn’t get government assistance anymore.”
To qualify for SNAP, a family of four can earn no more than $4,125 a month. The minimum base pay for a paraprofessional at a Title I school in Fort Worth is $15.25 an hour, or about $2,562 a month.
The legislature has been discussing raises for teachers, counselors and nurses, but paraprofessional wages aren’t on the agenda.
Paraprofessionals work alongside teachers in the classroom. Their duties often include working with students who need additional assistance, shuttling students to the restroom, and teaching,
Raises are typically small and often less than that year’s employee contribution for insurance.
“The raise that we get still doesn’t balance off, because it’s like we get a raise and then they raise our damn insurance so we don’t even see the raise,” said the paraprofessional.
According to the Living Wage Calculator, an adult with one child in Texas would need to make $36.26 an hour to have a living wage. A living wage is made when someone can afford the necessities needed to have a sufficient standard of living.
Many teachers say that paraprofessionals are invaluable.
“I guarantee you, guarantee you, that I would not have been able to be as successful as I was as a teacher without the paras in my class,” said Mindy, a retired teacher, who asked that her last name not be used to protect the privacy of her grandson who has autism.
Her grandson is assisted in the classroom by a paraprofessional.
She said the paraprofessional is key to her grandson’s success in the classroom and his love of school.
“You could just tell by looking at his face, he smiled for the camera in his class picture,” she said. “She can do no wrong. She talks with him. She has a very special bond, it’s almost like another family member.”
The paraprofessional said their salaries should be more aligned with the base pay for teachers. “We don’t even make half of what a teacher makes, and we do all of this work,” the paraprofessional said.
Paraprofessionals and members of the education believe that the Texas Legislature should give them recognition they deserve.
“I really think that if we want to have qualified paras, excellent and qualified paras, we’re going to need to compensate them and compensate them fairly,” said Mindy.
