Respect Means Retirement Security
Today, the UFT is hosting its annual luncheon to celebrate paraprofessionals and highlight the progress being made on an annual $10,000 Respect check. The recognition is well deserved. Paraprofessionals do demanding work that requires physical effort, emotional resilience, and daily commitment to students who need support the most.
There should be no debate about one thing: paraprofessionals deserve higher pay. No one in their right mind believes they are paid enough today. For that reason alone, the Respect check should be passed into law immediately. But supporting immediate relief does not mean we should stop asking an important policy question: Does the way we deliver that compensation actually strengthen their long-term economic security?
The Structural Question
The proposed workforce stabilization payment is a non-pensionable $10,000 lump sum paid annually. It is separate from base salary and does not count toward Final Average Salary.
That technical detail matters.
When pension consultants meet with members, they do something very straightforward: they compare current take-home income with projected retirement income. They show members what their pension will likely pay and how that compares to what they are living on now. That difference determines whether someone can maintain their standard of living in retirement.
If a paraprofessional earns an additional $10,000 every year, but that compensation is not pensionable, it increases working income without increasing retirement income.
It does not raise Final Average Salary.
It does not increase lifetime pension payments.
It does not strengthen long-term retirement stability.
It disappears at retirement.
That is not a minor technical issue. It is a structural one.
Why Pensionability Matters More for Paraprofessionals
Paraprofessionals already earn lower base salaries than most other school-based titles. When base salary is low, every pensionable dollar becomes more important.
A pension is calculated as a percentage of Final Average Salary multiplied by years of service. If the salary base is suppressed, the lifetime benefit is suppressed.
A $10,000 pensionable salary increase compounds for life.
A $10,000 non-pensionable check improves income while working — and then vanishes.
For our members whose work can take a measurable toll over time, retirement is not an abstraction. Many paraprofessionals cannot simply “work a few more years” to make up the difference. Economic stability after decades of service should not depend on temporary mechanisms.
If we are serious about equity, the solution must strengthen the foundation — not sit on top of it.
Income Expectations and Planning Reality
There is another practical issue.
People budget, spend, and save based on their actual income. If someone’s annual earnings include an additional $10,000 for years, that becomes part of their financial expectations. Mortgage decisions, rent stability, childcare costs, and savings rates are built around that number.
If that $10,000 is excluded from pension calculations, the drop from working income to retirement income becomes wider than expected.
Our pension consultants have an obligation to provide members with a clear and accurate picture of retirement. Introducing significant non-pensionable compensation makes retirement planning more complex and increases the risk that members misunderstand what their post-employment income will actually look like.
Retirement security should be predictable and structurally sound — not dependent on explanations about what does and does not count.
A Lesson from the Past
Years ago, paraprofessionals were not automatically enrolled in TRS. I remember a pension consultation I was providing to a paraprofessional who had given decades of service to the NYC school system, and was planning on retiring in the coming year or two, only to discover she had never enrolled in TRS and therefore had no pension waiting for her. She was devastated.
Today, paraprofessionals are automatically enrolled. That was a critical correction.
The lesson from that period is not about blame. It is about structure. Retirement security must be built into the system, not assumed. It must be clear, durable, and protected.
Respect should show up not only in today’s paycheck, but in tomorrow’s retirement security.
Short-Term Relief vs. Long-Term Respect
The Respect check addresses a real issue: paraprofessional pay is too low. No one should oppose higher compensation for paraprofessionals. They clearly need and deserve more.
The question is how that compensation is delivered.
Short-term relief helps in the present.
Long-term respect strengthens base salary, ensures full pensionability, and improves lifetime retirement benefits.
If we truly believe paraprofessionals deserve economic justice, then that justice should follow them into retirement.
Retirement security matters.
Low base salaries make every pension dollar critical.
After careers that place real demands on the body, mind, and spirit, stability in retirement is not a luxury — it is protection.
Respect in the moment is easy.
Structural respect requires pensionable equity.
That is the difference between a temporary fix and a lasting solution.
The cost will be closer to 300 million. There are not 20k full time paras … the numbers are much more, including sub paras who will receive this, as well.
It’s fascinating to read Goodman and his Tier 1 pension lecture us about what is enough.
Smokin Mirrors - thanks to UNITY Bullshit! Mulgrew & Crew GOTS to GO!!!!