FAQ on the City Council legislation

On July 16, the City Council passed our RESPECT check legislation! 

This historic piece of legislation makes it clear that the harm pattern bargaining has caused paraprofessionals is unacceptable. The RESPECT check is a way for us to start to close the paraprofessional pay gap immediately, while we work to create a permanent pensionable fix in our contract next year. Read the full legislation »

This legislation is part of our ongoing work to give paraprofessionals the respect and money they deserve for the valuable work they do for our most vulnerable students. See answers to questions you may have about the legislation below.  

What is the paraprofessional “RESPECT check” legislation?

The bill would put an additional $10,000 into the pockets of paraprofessionals and begin to undo some of the damage that the unfair practice of pattern bargaining has caused members of the UFT Paraprofessionals Chapter. Substitute paraprofessionals would receive a prorated amount based on the number of days they work.

The payments are separate from a paraprofessional’s regular salary and are not pensionable. The bill is part of our ongoing work to increase pay for paraprofessionals and end a practice that has harmed our lowest-paid members.

What are the next steps now that it has been passed by the City Council?

The bill will now be placed on the mayor's desk, and he has 30 days to approve or veto it. Mayor Mamdani has expressed support for this critical legislation in the past and we are hopeful he will sign it into law. If the bill is vetoed, it can be passed back to City Council to overturn the veto.

Why was this bill created?

The city of New York has experienced persistent difficulties in recruiting and retaining school paraprofessionals, resulting in staffing shortages and turnover that impair the continuity of educational and student-support services, including critical services for students with disabilities. Maintaining a stable school paraprofessional workforce is necessary to protect student safety and to ensure the effective delivery of instructional and support services in schools. These temporary workforce stabilization payments are necessary to address these emergency conditions until these conditions are rectified through collective bargaining; and this law is intended to provide these  payments in a manner that does not limit or diminish our collective bargaining rights.

How bad is the pay gap for paraprofessionals?

Our paraprofessionals have a starting salary of just over $32,000, which is impossible to survive on in this city. The city’s insistence on pattern bargaining, in which all city workers get the same percentage increases, has done incredible damage to the lowest-paid employees. The fact is the same 3% increase translates to a much higher dollar amount for higher-paid DOE employees than it does for our paraprofessionals.  A 3% increase for a starting paraprofessional is roughly $900, while for the highest paid principals, it is roughly $6,500. Due to decades with  this broken system, the pay gap between the highest-paid principals and the lowest-paid UFT members — our paraprofessionals — has grown appallingly wide. 

How much money will I get if this bill becomes law? 

Every full-time paraprofessional would receive a check for $10,000 paid in four installments of $2,500:

• Jan. 1, 2027, for the payment period from Sept. 1, 2026, through Nov. 14, 2026
• March 1, 2027, for the payment period from Nov. 15, 2026, through Jan. 31, 2027
• June 1, 2027, for the payment period from Feb. 1, 2027, through April 14, 2027
• Aug. 1, 2027, for the payment period from April 15, 2027, through June 30, 2027

Substitute paraprofessionals would receive a prorated amount based on the number of days worked. 

Why is the money not pensionable?

Salaries, which are pensionable, must be negotiated through collective bargaining. With this legislation, we can give paraprofessionals immediate financial relief this year, rather than waiting until 2027, when we will begin negotiations on a new contract. Moreover, we are not financing these payments with the finite sum available to us for all members in collective bargaining. Finally, the City Council is legally not allowed to change worker salaries or working conditions, but this payment would fall outside the terms and conditions of our contract. 

Why did we use a bill instead of the contract?

We will continue to negotiate pay increases for paraprofessionals and all UFT titles through collective bargaining, but our current contract does not expire until 2027. We are going outside the collective bargaining process because pattern bargaining, in which all city workers get the same percentage increases, has failed our paraprofessionals. The fact is the same 3% increase translates to a much higher dollar amount for higher-paid DOE employees than it does for our paraprofessionals, so paraprofessionals fall further and further behind. We would never be able to get this large and immediate amount of money for paraprofessionals within the constraints of collective bargaining without other union members giving up their own raises. It is the city’s responsibility to give paraprofessionals the money we know they all deserve. It’s unacceptable to us for the city to say that other UFT members are responsible for giving paraprofessionals a raise. We will not allow the city to pit members against members.

Would these payments ever stop?

The legislation says that the payments may be reauthorized each year as long as the school system still has a paraprofessional shortage or until the city addresses the harm caused by pattern bargaining.

The goal is to have the city agree to a contract in which paraprofessionals receive a compensation increase that is at least equal to these payments. At that point, the bill would cease to exist and the payment amount would be part of our contract.  

How would I receive this payment?

We are working with the DOE to figure out how this payment would be distributed. It might appear as supplemental checks similar to our May bonus checks.

How would this money be taxed?

These payments would be taxed as supplemental wages, the same way the May bonus payments are. Because of this classification, a higher amount of tax may be withheld initially, but your final tax rate at the end of the year would be based on your total income (salary plus bonuses and other earnings). If the amount withheld ended up being more than what you owed for the year, you would receive a tax refund from the IRS when you filed your return.

Why are paraprofessionals receiving this payment and not other UFT titles?

This payment to paraprofessionals addresses the pay gap that has increased over the decades as across-the-board percentage increases negotiated in each contract yield more money for higher-paid titles. Our paraprofessionals deserve to earn a living wage for the valuable work they do.

How is this legislation being funded?

The payments would come from the city’s general funds, not from the collective bargaining reserve. Between November 2024 and January 2025, the city “found” over $8 billion in additional funds to cover municipal expenses.