The Fight for All Educators Starts With ESPs

 

Speak with Alex Walker for a few minutes and one thing becomes clear: She loves her job.  

Walker, a member of the Boise Education Association, is a behavior support specialist at Ascent School in Boise, which specializes in students with difficult behaviors that often alienate them from their peers.  

“Having a job where I feel like I can make a difference and have these good, positive interactions with students — it just makes me leave work most days feeling good about what I have done while working, feeling proud and grateful to do this work,” she says. 

As a member of a union family, one of her first professional moves was to join Idaho Education Association. But as an education support professional, or ESP, she is a classified  employee — and like other ESPs, she faces unique challenges that her professional colleagues do not: Lower pay. No recognition of their collective bargaining rights. Higher rates of classroom safety incidents, including assault. 

Those barriers have only made Walker double down on fighting for her ESP colleagues. She is one of a vocal group of ESP members within IEA who are advocating for increased recognition, pay and respect for ESPs throughout the state.  

“I know I play an essential role in my building,” Walker says. “But it can be a bummer to not be acknowledged when the school community is talked about.”  

Nine ‘Families’ Made Up of Millions of Workers 

There are more than 2 million ESPs working in schools nationwide and about half a million are also union members. The National Education Association breaks education support professionals into nine professional families: clerical service workers, such as administrative assistants; custodial and maintenance workers; food service workers; health and student service workers; paraeducators; security workers; skilled trades workers, including those who maintain and service school facilities; technical service workers, such as computer support professionals; and transportation service workers.  

ESPs work alongside certificated teachers, and in the case of paraeducators, often in the same classroom. According to NEA, 57 percent of K-12 ESPs have an associate or advanced degree. Yet ESPs make a fraction of what certificated teachers earn. And in Idaho, that fraction is even smaller: according to NEA, the state ranks 50th in ESP pay. The average K-12 ESP makes just $26,628 in Idaho — miles below the minimum living wage of $57,989.  

Walker says pay is always the top concern when she speaks with Idaho ESPs. 

“Just over and over, I heard people say, ‘I do not make a livable wage. I have to work two jobs. I have to sell plasma,’ ” she says. “We’re showing up each day and supporting students to the best of our ability. And it can just kind of hurt in the way you feel valued in your job role, like this pay doesn’t reflect how I feel like I’m working.”

Idaho ESPs also anecdotally report higher rates of classroom violence. “We go to work in a hostile environment,” says LiseAnn Mills, Region 8 co-president and the IEA Board of Directors ESP-at-large. “I mean, we’re getting beat up.”  

Walker points to an overextended ESP workforce as another chronic issue. “Some of us are called to sub for a classroom and take a classroom even though that’s not our job,” she says. “Or others have to work through what would be their break because there’s no one to fill the spot while they take a break. And it just seems like a lot of ways we’re being stretched thin, and I’ve seen a lot of this due to a lack of staff.” 

Advocating Without a Crucial Tool

ESP members join IEA even though they don’t have access to one of the most crucial tools available to members: collective bargaining. Thirty-one states allow ESPs to collectively bargain, but Idaho is not one of them. Only professional employees — which Idaho defines as any certificated employee of a school district other than superintendents, supervisors and principals — may collectively bargain.  

“That’s a major problem because we — many of us — are professionals in our own right,” says Logan Lindholm, an elementary music specialist and member of the Blackfoot Education

Association. “I have a bachelor’s degree. But I can’t have IEA come to the table and say, ‘Listen, we need to support our ESPs.’ Of course, they will do their best when negotiations come around, but they can’t specifically negotiate.” 

ESPs can still advocate for their colleagues by serving as vocal members of their associations.  

However, at the end of the day, ESPs must rely on the understanding and goodwill of their fellow members and their districts.  

Lindholm considers himself fortunate to be a member of BEA, which enjoys a strong relationship with the Blackfoot School District and its superintendent. He says the district has been open and receptive to working with BEA to address issues that face ESPs.  

“(The district) tries to do the best that they can for us, but there’s still only so much that they can do when their hands are tied on the state level,” he says. “And that can be really frustrating because I love my position, I love my job — but it’s almost seen as if we are ancillary to the job rather than a necessary function.” 

Mills says ESPs can still have a seat at the table. “I sit on my negotiation board even though we can’t negotiate for ESPs,” she says. “I also have a really good working rapport with our superintendent and a couple of our board members.” Those relationships help MHEA advocate more effectively for ESPs, including negotiating a 10 percent raise in 2023, Mills says. 

But the lack of collective bargaining power can make recruiting ESPs to the union a tougher sell. So can the cost. ESPs member dues are lower, but even the discounted price can be a barrier. There is still plenty of value available to ESPs, Mills says, including insurance. 

“Not only is it extra backing in your job, but there are benefits that come with it,” Mills says. “You have member benefits that you can utilize. You have all the trainings that are free to you. It’s just so much more, and the networking that you get out of it … I have cohorts that are from Alaska, Maryland, Florida, and we talk on a regular basis.” 

For Lindholm, the protection and solidarity the union offers is well worth the membership.  

“I want to protect myself and I want to protect everyone that I can,” he says. “And the best way to do that is to join your professional organization because they will have your best interest at heart. That’s a major reason why I joined, and if I could express to anybody who is thinking about joining — especially ESPs — that would be the big reason why they should join.” 

A Bill of Rights for ESPs 

Gaining more support for ESPs has been a focus both in Idaho and nationwide. Thanks to a vote put forward at Delegate Assembly, IEA has stopped referring to its members as “teachers,” instead embracing the word “educators.”  

That small switch makes a big difference to ESPs, Mills says. So does being represented at the local level. “When I go and talk to local presidents and locals, I ask them, ‘Are your ESPs represented in your bylaws and constitution?’ You want them to be members, but you need to make sure that they feel supported as actual members.” 

At the national level, NEA has put forth the ESP Bill of Rights covering the fundamental issues that affect all ESPs. Its tenets include fair compensation, recognition and respect, safe and healthy work environments, affordable healthcare, paid leave, professional learning and career advancement, workload and staffing, retirement, protection from privatization and the right to bargain.  

READ THE FULL ESP BILL OF RIGHTS HERE 

Mills says she is working with NEA to lay the groundwork so the ESP Bill of Rights can be introduced at IEA Delegate Assembly sometime in the future. Eventually, NEA would like every state to adopt the ESP Bill of Rights — and, hopefully, build the momentum to affect real change.  

“It’s a long road, but it’s a road that is going to get traveled because we need it,” she says.  

In the meantime, ESPs like Mills, Walker and Lindholm are organizing; some are attending events like the upcoming Lobby Day. “My goal is to talk to more ESPs districtwide and bring more ESPs into the organization,” Lindholm says. “There’s strength in numbers. The more people that we have getting active and unionizing, the stronger a force we can be to protect not only ourselves, but our profession.” 

Professional members can do their part, too, Walker says, by offering ESPs simple respect.  

“Just make sure ESPs are visible and are acknowledged as a vital part of the school district,” she urges. “If every single ESP called out on one day, a school would not function, right? And so just recognize we play a role. We play an important role. It works because we’re here. Just give us the acknowledgement that we’re understood and seen, and give us dignity through that.”