Our paraprofessional RESPECT campaign will continue strong in the new year.

As 2025 draws to a close, the chances of our “RESPECT check” bill advancing in the current City Council session grow slimmer. Outgoing Speaker Adrienne Adams has used her considerable power to block the bill from reaching the full council for a vote — despite its veto-proof support of 47 of 51 council members. But even if she succeeds in stalling it, our fight is far from over. We have already laid the groundwork to hopefully get this done in 2026.

The bill already has the backing of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and a supermajority of the incoming council. We endorsed Mamdani for mayor, and 40 of the 41 council candidates we endorsed in November won their races.

Our RESPECT campaign has also made a meaningful impact. We’ve highlighted the essential work paraprofessionals perform every day in our schools. Through days of action, rallies, member outreach to council members and paraprofessional testimonials on social media, we’ve exposed a broken system — one in which chronic paraprofessional shortages leave too many students with disabilities without the mandated services they need to thrive. We’ve called out the DOE for its needlessly complex and opaque process for hiring paraprofessionals. Most importantly, we’ve called widespread attention to a broken pattern bargaining system that has allowed the DOE and the city to get away with not paying a living wage to these indispensable members of our school communities.

Our campaign will continue at full force until our paraprofessionals get the respect — and the $10,000 “RESPECT check” — they deserve.