What Do Paraprofessionals Do For Income During Off Periods From School?
Last Tuesday, I ran into Mia, my 8-year-old son’s special education paraprofessional, at the grocery store self-checkout. The machine kept blaring “UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA” while she stacked avocados, and she laughed and brushed a strand of hair back, showing me the “World’s Best Para” sticker my son had made her for Teacher Appreciation Week, still stuck to her phone case. I asked how her first week of summer break was going, and she nodded at the blue dog daycare lanyard hanging off her canvas tote. “Working 30 hours a week here, plus cleaning shifts at the community center two nights a week,” she said. “Gotta pay the rent when school’s out.”
I’d known Mia for two years, worked with her on my son’s IEP, brought her coffee at parent-teacher conferences, but I’d never really stopped to ask what happens when school isn’t in session. For people who don’t work in schools, it’s easy to assume all school staff get paid year-round, right? But the vast majority of paras work 10-month contracts, meaning no paychecks during summer break, and no pay for any other off periods—winter break, spring break, even random days off for weather or professional development that doesn’t require their presence.
My sister Lila is a para at the elementary school three towns over, so I’ve heard bits and pieces over the years, but that conversation with Mia drove it home. What do they actually do to make ends meet? It’s almost never a long, relaxing vacation. Lila spends spring break walking 12 dogs a day for neighbors and regular clients from a pet sitting app, and sets up a table at the local farmers market every Saturday in summer to sell the crocheted keychains and baby booties she makes after work. Another para I know, who works with my neighbor’s autistic daughter, drives for a food delivery app on all school breaks and picks up yard work for neighborhood families on weekends when she can.
Some paras get lucky and grab a summer school spot at their district, but there are never enough of those to go around. Last year, only 12 of the 47 paras at my son’s school got summer school positions, the rest had to find work elsewhere. Unemployment benefits barely cover anything, if you qualify at all—Mia told me she got $180 a week last summer, which didn’t even cover half her $1,200 rent.
It’s easy to see this as just a personal finance problem for the paras themselves, but it touches our kids too. When your para is working 60-hour weeks across two extra jobs all summer just to make ends meet, they’re not resting and recharging to come back to your kid in the fall. Mia told me last summer, she was so burnt out by the first week of school that she accidentally mixed up two kids’ IEP schedules, a mistake that threw off the whole day for both kids. More than that, constant financial pressure pushes a lot of paras out of the profession entirely. My son had three different paras in kindergarten before Mia started, and it took him three months to settle down every time a new unfamiliar adult stepped in. That constant turnover sets back progress for kids who rely on consistent, trusted support more than anyone.
After that chat at the grocery store, I started asking around what small things parents and teachers could do to help, and there are concrete, low-effort steps that make a real difference. First, if you hear your kid’s para mentioning they need extra work over break, and you need help with anything—child care for your own kids, pet sitting, helping organize your garage, even packing for a family move—offer the work to them, and pay a fair rate. Last spring break, I had to go into the office for two half days, and I asked Mia to watch my son. I paid her $20 an hour, just a little more than I would have paid a teen sitter, and she told me that check covered her grocery and gas bill for the whole two weeks of break. It didn’t cost me anything extra, really, I just chose to give the work to someone who already knows my kid and needs the income.
Second, if you’re part of your school’s PTA, bring up the idea of small emergency stipends for paras during off periods. Our PTA had a little extra money left over from this year’s fun run fundraiser, and we voted to set aside $1500 for one-time $150 grants that any para can apply for to cover rent, utilities, or car repairs over break. It’s not a lot, but 10 paras got grants this year, and Mia said hers covered her health insurance copay for her asthma inhalers that she couldn’t afford otherwise. You don’t need to raise tens of thousands of dollars, even small amounts add up.
Third, if you’re a classroom teacher, pass along side work leads you get. A lot of parents ask lead teachers for tutoring over the summer or help with child care during breaks, and most teachers can’t take every client. Lila gets three or four tutoring clients every summer from the lead teacher she works with, and that adds up to about $1000 extra a summer, which covers her utilities for two full months. It’s just a quick forward of an email, that’s all it takes.
Last week, Mia texted me a photo of her and my son at the local pool, on her only day off that week. She said she’s still planning on coming back in the fall, which is a huge relief for all of us. But she also mentioned her landlord raised her rent by $150 a month starting in August, so she’s picking up an extra weekend shift at the dog daycare for the rest of the summer. It’s still a stretch. This isn’t a problem that parent bake sales and odd jobs can fix long term—what paras really need is 12-month contracts and living wages from school districts. But in the meantime, those small, ordinary acts take a little of the pressure off. Most of us don’t think to ask what happens when the school bell rings for break, but it turns out, that’s when a lot of paras are just getting to their second job.
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