What Do Paraprofessionals Do for Income During School Off Periods? A Teacher’s Perspective
I was shoving stacks of poetry worksheets into my desk drawer last Thursday, getting ready for the first day of spring break, when my classroom paraprofessional Mia paused mid-fold of a fidget blanket and sighed. I looked up, and she was tapping the cracked screen of her phone, where a scheduling app for the local grocery store deli was pulled up. “Three 12-hour shifts a week this break,” she said, grinning a little like it was a joke that wasn’t really funny. “Gotta make up the two weeks of pay I don’t get.”
I’ve worked with four different paras in my 10 years teaching 2nd grade self-contained, and every single one of them has had a side gig to cover off-period income. Most people outside of K-12 don’t know that the vast majority of paras are only contracted for 10 months a year. No contract, no pay, when school’s out. In my mid-sized suburban district, the average para makes $17-$19 an hour, and almost no one gets the option to spread their pay out over 12 months to cover breaks. That adds up to two weeks off in spring, a week at Thanksgiving, two at Christmas, and 10 weeks in the summer that most have to cover with other work.
So what do they actually do to make ends meet? It’s almost never fancy remote work or long-term side hustles. It’s whatever flexible, short-term work they can fit around childcare and the occasional teacher work day that pops up mid-break. Mia did deli shifts this spring; last summer she cleaned houses and sat for pets for a handful of teachers in the building who go on vacation. She’s done yard work for elderly neighbors, sold homemade tie-dye shirts at the local farmers market, and helped her sister sell Christmas trees out by the interstate during last winter break. Joe, the para down the hall who works with kids with mobility needs, drives for Uber Eats. He puts in 20 hours a week during the school year, and 40 during breaks, to cover his daughter’s college tuition. Lila, who worked with me two years ago, babysat for the families of her students during breaks. She said it paid better than any other side gig she found, but it meant she never really got a break from work—parents would text her at 9 pm asking her to come in last minute, and she couldn’t say no because she needed the money.
Last summer, I ran into Joe at the gas station at 10 pm on a Saturday. He was just finishing a 12-hour day of delivering, and he told me he’d made $180 that day after gas and fees. It was enough to cover his utility bill for the month, he said, but he’d missed his daughter’s graduation cookout because he couldn’t turn down the surge in orders that weekend. That conversation stuck with me.
A lot of parents I talk to assume all school staff get paid year round, just like administrators or tenured teachers. It’s not something we bring up at parent-teacher conferences, so it flies under the radar. But there are small, concrete things parents and other school staff can do to make this a little easier, if you want to.
First, if you’re looking for a babysitter or tutor over school breaks, ask your classroom para first if they take on extra work. Don’t just assume they’re busy or don’t need the extra cash. When you ask, be clear about the hours and pay upfront—don’t say “wanna watch my kids sometime” and leave them to figure out how much to ask for. Offer at least $15 an hour, which is more than most entry-level retail gigs pay, and pay them at the end of each day instead of waiting until the end of the week. A lot of paras live paycheck to paycheck, so that small adjustment makes a huge difference.
Second, if your school’s PTO does staff gifts around holiday breaks, suggest switching at least part of the gift to cash or local grocery store gift cards, instead of mugs or baked goods. My school’s PTO started doing this three years ago, giving every para a $75 gift card before winter break. Mia told me last year that gift covered her son’s asthma inhaler copay, which she’d been stressing about for weeks. It doesn’t solve the whole problem, but it takes one small, unexpected bill off their plate.
Third, if you’re a fellow teacher, don’t forget to include paras when you’re recommending people for side work. I get asked for cleaning help, pet sitting, and babysitter references at least once a month, and I always lead with the paras I know who are looking for extra work over breaks. It’s the easiest ask in the world, and it connects them to steady, flexible work that pays better than minimum wage shifts at big box stores.
Last weekend, Mia texted me a photo of her son stacking sandwich meat behind the deli counter, wearing a too-big apron that someone had tied for him. She wrote that he’s earning extra money for a new bike helmet, and she’s going to be able to afford the new brakes for her 2012 Civic after this break. She said she’s still looking forward to the single day she has off in the middle of break, when she’s just going to sit on her couch and watch cartoons with him.
I can’t change our district’s policy that leaves paras without pay for weeks every year. I can’t bump up their salaries or get them 12-month contracts overnight. But I can ask, I can recommend, I can pass on every gig I hear about. It’s not a fix, but it’s enough to make one less thing to stress about, for now.
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