Who Wants a Raise?

Everyone. And if you are a UFTer (and not a retiree), you are getting one. But get this. A new paraprofessional is getting a raise of $803/year. Man, do they need it. Getting by on $31,500 in New York City is not easy. I assume most have second jobs. Or have more members of their household working.

But also, get this: a top of scale teacher is also getting a raise. But the teacher is getting an extra $5080 year. Over 6 times as much as the para. Does the senior teacher need more money? Or need it more? No. In NYC $150k does not make you rich. But you’ve got more income than a para. More than five times more.

So who decided that the teacher should get a $5080 raise, while the para just gets $803?

More to come. Because this is clearly wrong. And there’s plenty of blame to go around. But there are also things we can do.