Bus drivers take America’s children to schools where cafeteria workers feed them and teacher aides help students who need the most help.
And their salary is very less. School support staff earn an average of about $25,000 per year in Los Angeles, which is barely enough in one of America’s most expensive cities.
Pay is a driving factor behind a three-day strike that has shut down the entire Los Angeles school system and put the spotlight on the meager wages of the support staff who serve as the backbone of schools across the country.
Even outside of expensive California, after-school gigs often don’t pay enough to live on.
Arthur Anderson, a school activist in Virginia, says it’s a shame the walkout called for attention to a long-standing problem, but he hopes it will help.
“People are very frustrated. We all are,” said Anderson, a teacher’s assistant in the Chesapeake public school system where she has worked for 30 years and earns $32,000. He works three more part-time jobs to make ends meet. “I struggle to pay my rent. I struggle to pay my bills,” he said. “I love what I do. I do not like what I am getting paid.
Anderson works 36 hours a day as a special education aide in her school’s science department. But they have also been asked to fill in as bus drivers and custodians. When a science teacher is absent, he or she fills in as a substitute, paying an additional $10 per class. “I did that today. I got an extra $20.
A strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District that began Monday is being led by teachers’ assistants, custodians, and other support workers, who are among the district’s lowest-paid employees. They are demanding better pay and an increase in staff. Teachers staged a sit-in in a show of solidarity that forced the district to close schools in the country’s second-largest district, which serves 1.5 million students.
School support staff across the country tell stories of spending their entire careers in public education, filling the jobs that keep schools running. Still, many are not making a living wage and, like the striking workers in Los Angeles, cannot afford to live in the communities where they work.
“The issue in Los Angeles is not limited to Los Angeles. It is a nationwide issue and has been decades in the making,” said Princess Moss, vice president of the National Education Association, which represents nearly half a million educational support workers. “It’s unfair to these school employees who work so hard and do so much for our students.”
The NEA, the nation’s largest teachers union, released data last year that showed full-time school support staff earned an average salary of $32,800. Delaware had the highest pay for full-time K-12 support staff ($44,738), while Idaho had the lowest ($25,830), but pay varies widely by state. They can also vary within metro areas and school districts, depending on how long a person has been on the job.
Amid staff shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have struggled with hiring during a tight labor market, which adds to the burden on staff.
A RAND survey of school leaders last year found that nearly three-quarters of school leaders say they are trying to hire more substitutes, 58% are trying to hire more bus drivers and 43% are trying to hire more tutors. trying to keep up. Shortages increase the strain on existing school employees, often without an increase in pay. In recent years, staff has found themselves implementing pandemic protocols or helping students struggling with their mental health or behavior.
More than half of the nation’s public schools began this school year feeling short-staffed, struggling to fill key support staff jobs, particularly in transportation and custodial work, according to a survey by the Department of Education. When asked about the biggest challenges, roughly four in 10 said candidates feel the pay and benefits aren’t good enough, and more than half of schools said they weren’t getting enough applications.
Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union represents the nearly 30,000 LAUSD teachers’ assistants, special education assistants, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and other support workers. The union says many people live in poverty due to low pay or limited working hours, while battling inflation and the high cost of housing. Support workers, many of whom work part-time, earn about $25,000 a year, according to the union, which is seeking a 30% increase.
The school district has offered a cumulative 23% increase, beginning with 2% retroactive to the 2020-21 school year and ending with 5% in 2024-25. The package will also include more full-time positions and an expansion of health benefits. Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho accused the union of refusing to negotiate and said he was ready to meet at any time.
Leaders of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, which represents 35,000 teachers, counselors, and other employees, have pledged solidarity with the strikers.
UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said at a news conference, “These are the coworkers who are the lowest-paid employees in our schools, and we cannot stand by silently as we continue to see them disrespected and mistreated by this district.” Let’s see.”
Experts say it is unusual for different unions to come together in the same school district, but the unified labor action in Los Angeles could mark a turning point.
“The teachers’ union and the service workers’ union saying we can do better if we stick together can be a contagion in other communities looking and saying, ‘Hey, they did it in Los Angeles — maybe We can do it,'” said Lee Adler, a lecturer, and expert on education union issues at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
It’s too early to say whether the Los Angeles strike could have an effect. But people are paying attention.
“When something like this happens in a place like Los Angeles, people with similar jobs in places like Chicago or Detroit wonder if they should be fussing more, or demanding more,” Adler said.
“When people watch others stand by and fight they certainly get a little restless, and some think, ‘Is there something we can do to make our lives better?’