The RESPECT check is now law! 

All of our hard work has gotten us to this moment. As of Aug. 19, paraprofessionals can expect to receive their first RESPECT payment in January. Read our FAQ to learn more »

The City Council passed our RESPECT check legislation on July 16. Every day of action we held, our huge rally in 2025, each piece of testimony we submitted, all the letters we sent and everything else we did brought us to this victory. 

We thank City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Council Member Carmen De La Rosa – our prime bill sponsor – and all of the council members who recognized the hard work and dedication our paraprofessionals put into our schools by voting to pass this important bill. 

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.

Tell the mayor our paraprofessionals deserve respect

The RESPECT bill is law, but the city has started the process to file a lawsuit to stop it. 

Take action by sending this prewritten email to Mayor Mamdani telling him to keep the promises he made to our paraprofessionals and children of New York City. 

The mayor only allows messages through his contact form, so follow the steps below to send your message.

How to send the email:

• Copy the text from the box below.
• Go to the mayor’s contact form.
• Select the topic: Education.
• Paste the draft from the bottom of this page in the Message box.
• Enter your contact information.
• Hit Submit.

What the legislation says

Paraprofessionals will be paid $10,000 in four installments of $2,500: 

*Substitute paraprofessionals will be paid based on the number of days they worked in those time periods.

We should feel proud of our fight for this RESPECT check. But, this is just the beginning of the work we need to do to get our paraprofessionals the money they deserve and to fix the broken system of pattern bargaining in New York City. We have won something important, and together we will continue this work to get our paraprofessionals the respect they deserve.