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Teaching assistants urge equal raises; union and district say talks are ongoing
Summary
Multiple Springfield SD 186 teaching assistants urged the board to extend the paras' October raises to teaching assistants; union president and a director said negotiations and a district counteroffer are active and will be reviewed.
More than a half‑dozen teaching assistants told the Springfield School District 186 board during public comment that current pay levels are not livable and urged the board to extend pay increases given to other paraprofessionals.
“A teaching assistant after 10 years ... My check clears $909.77. My mortgage escrow is $911.43, a difference of a dollar 66,” said Amy Harris Long, a teaching assistant, describing tight household finances. Multiple speakers described long service, college coursework and additional classroom responsibilities and asked the board to equalize raises with paraprofessionals who received larger increases in October.
Other commenters said the district’s earlier raises for some paraprofessionals created new internal disparities. Neha Maskar, a teaching assistant, said the current schedule would leave some TAs making less than paras with similar years of service; Patricia Landers and Stacy Lawrence described personal and financial hardships tied to long service in the district. Jared Lamke read remarks about the needs of Early Learning Center students and the role of assistants in classrooms with complex needs.
Aaron Graves, president of the Springfield Education Association, told the board the association considers pay equity for teaching assistants part of improving teaching and learning conditions and said the union looks forward to a timely resolution.
In response Director Miller said the district opened the paraprofessional contract in January and presented a proposal the board could afford; she said the district received a counterproposal from the union at 1:45 p.m. on the day of the meeting and that staff have not yet had time to review it. “We did that out of crisis, for our paraprofessionals. We understand everything you're saying,” Miller said, adding the district will review the union’s counter and return to the table.
No formal board action occurred during the meeting on teaching assistant wages. Speakers asked the board to treat the matter as a priority and to consider parity with the $25‑an‑hour base reported for some paraprofessionals working in specialized STRIVE/scribe classrooms.
