(NEW YORK CITY) - Members of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and Elected Officials are demanding New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams schedule a hearing on proposed legislation that would provide Para-Professionals with annual payments of at least $10,000.

Full-time Para-Professionals earn low pay, starting at $31,787 a year, which has resulted in widespread staffing shortages the UFT predicted will only get worse.

AFT President Michael Mulgrew estimates there will be at least 4,000 vacant Para-Professional positions going into the 2025-2026 school year.

To address the staffing shortages, the Council is considering a Bill that would provide Para-Professionals with a $10,755 non-pensionable payment this year.

But though the legislation has the support of 48 Council Members, Council Staffers recently informed the UFT there are no plans to schedule a Committee hearing on the Bill, Mulgrew said at a press conference: “Because of the number of people who have signed onto this Bill, they must give us a Committee hearing. So, I’m asking the speaker to intervene. We have a crisis in our school system. We cannot fill the position of the Para-Professionals. It is time for the City to recognize that it is their responsibility to fix this crisis.”

A Council spokesperson said only that the legislation is going through the usual legislative course: "Introduction (1261) was introduced in April and is going through the Council’s legislative process, which is deliberative and allows for thorough public input.”

Priscilla Castro, the UFT’s Para-Professional Chapter Leader, said the $10,000 payments would be a “great help” for Para-Professionals. 

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