Does society value special education teachers & home health care workers?
What the gigantic shortage of workers around the world says about societal priorities.
There’s no state in the US where an education support professional — such as a paraprofessional — earns enough, on average, to support themself and one child whilst living in the state’s most affordable metropolitan area, a new analysis finds.
In addition to this year’s teacher salary rankings, the National Education Association released data for how much school support staff make in each state. The nation’s largest teachers’ union, which represents about a half-million education support professionals, analyzed federal data to provide a picture of all support staff working in public schools. There are nearly 2.2 million education support professionals working in K-12 public schools, compared to about 3.2 million classroom teachers.
Education support professionals are known as the backbone of schools for their work supporting classroom learning and maintaining the functionality of school operations. Many of them work directly with students, particularly those who have disabilities. Yet many of these workers are not making a living wage, this analysis found.
The wage problems might explain why there will be almost 4.5 million job openings in professional support careers in the next decade, according to data from the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute. In the next three years, there will be almost 15,000 job openings for home healthcare positions in Illinois, according to the Projections Managing Partnership.
When considering a such a career, many consider that you can go to McDonald’s or Starbucks and make more than you make working as paraprofessional or a childcare provider. For them, it’s kind of a no-brainer because of the work and costs involved in taking care of children.
What do you think? Do we value this profession? Why are those that work with children, especially those with special needs, not paid well enough to support themselves? What about those very expensive cities, like Los Angeles? Join the conversation below.