Paraprofessionals across New York City are pressing City Council members to pass a renewed version of the UFT’s RESPECT check bill – legislation that would provide an annual payment of at least $10,000 to the chronically underpaid educators and help address their systemic shortage in city schools.

The bill was blocked late last year by former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. But this year ushered in a new legislative session with a new council speaker, Julie Menin, and mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who both support the RESPECT check bill.

Paraprofessionals fanned out across the city in January to sit down with Council members and build on the broad support for the bill among city lawmakers that the UFT gained in 2025.

“When we talk about this money, we’re not talking about luxury,” said Denise Best, the UFT paraprofessional representative at PS 199 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. “We’re talking about fairness, stability and keeping people who already give so much of themselves from having to work two or three jobs.”

Best, who has worked multiple jobs to make ends meet during her career, made the case for the RESPECT check at a Jan. 22 meeting with Council Member Gail Brewer at UFT headquarters. Best explained that investing in the RESPECT check would be “not just an investment in staff, but an investment in students.”

Best began her education career as a teacher in the 1990s without paraprofessional support and saw how children who needed additional help fell through the cracks.

“You can’t function without paraprofessionals,” she said.

After later choosing to become a paraprofessional, Best said she fell in love with providing individualized support to students and watching the whole classroom “become an even better community.”

Discussion around the RESPECT bill also highlights the systemic pay inequities caused by pattern bargaining for all low-wage workers. A first-year paraprofessional earns $31,787 annually. Under pattern bargaining, a hypothetical 3% raise provided to all city workers would amount to a pay increase of $954 per year. By contrast, a principal earning the maximum salary of $216,747 would see a pay increase of more than $6,500.

Paraprofessionals have cited low pay as the main reason the city Department of Education struggles to recruit and retain enough educators to fill these crucial positions. City schools began the academic year with 3,000 to 4,000 paraprofessional vacancies.

“That means between 3,000 and 4,000 students are going without needed services,” said UFT Paraprofessionals Chapter Chairperson Priscilla Castro. “That’s unacceptable.”

At a Jan. 23 meeting with Council Member Virginia Maloney, Suzette Robbins, the paraprofessional representative at PS 329 in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood, said skyrocketing housing prices and the overall affordability crisis in the city are real concerns.

“The situation is dire,” said Castro, “and we can’t let that continue for compassionate educators who are the backbone of our school system.”

As paraprofessionals ask City Council members to sign a pledge to support the RESPECT check bill that is expected to be reintroduced in the coming weeks, they’re being met with strong support. In the meantime, the UFT is working to identify a new sponsor to reintroduce the bill.

“The way forward is clear, the support is overwhelming, and we won’t stop until we get our paraprofessionals the respect they deserve,” said Castro.