Educators and school staff deserve to be paid fairly for the work they do every day for Boston students. Before this contract, many paraprofessionals — overwhelmingly women and workers of color — were earning wages so low that some struggled with homelessness and economic insecurity. Correcting that injustice was necessary and long overdue.
The suggestion that the current budget challenges are primarily the result of educators finally being compensated at levels that still trail other professions ignores the much larger fiscal reality facing cities across the country. Municipal budgets are being crushed by skyrocketing healthcare costs while giant insurance companies continue lining their pockets and Washington refuses to act. The Trump administration and Congress have failed to rein in corporate healthcare profiteering, leaving cities like Boston to absorb massive annual cost increases that are crowding out investments in schools and public services.
The layoffs being discussed are not happening because Boston chose to keep paraprofessionals out of poverty or because educators secured long-overdue compensation improvements. No one should accept the false choice between fair compensation and fully staffed schools. Boston’s students deserve both.
The real conversation should be about why cities are being forced to shoulder exploding healthcare costs while insurance companies post record profits and working people are told to accept cuts. Our union will continue fighting for the resources students need, the staffing levels schools deserve, and the dignity and economic security every educator should be able to count on.
Erik Berg, President of the Boston Teachers Union