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A bill guaranteeing paraprofessionals a one-time $10,000 pay bump became law automatically on Wednesday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to sign or veto it.
But within hours, City Hall announced plans to file a legal challenge, arguing the legislation improperly sidesteps the collective bargaining process.
The confrontation puts Mamdani in an awkward position because he supported similar legislation to boost paraprofessionals’ pay during his campaign, which focused on affordability issues. At the same time, allowing the legislation to stand could weaken City Hall’s power to manage labor costs if other unions began clamoring for legislation mandating pay raises.
Paraprofessionals, school aides who typically support students with disabilities, are among the lowest-paid employees of the city’s public school system with starting annual salaries of roughly $33,000. The $10,000 pay bump — known as the “respect” check — passed without a single dissenting vote in City Council last month.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, vowed an “all-out war” if the mayor tried to derail the bill and has argued it is consistent with state law.
“We are prepared to engage in a legal fight for the RESPECT check and the paraprofessionals who keep our schools running,” union officials wrote in an email to members on Wednesday.
City Hall spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach acknowledged that paraprofessionals are “indispensable” and “they have not been fairly compensated for their essential work.”
But Rauschenbach said in a statement that legislation sets a “dangerous precedent” and allows “politicians to bypass workers and their unions and dictate the terms of employment themselves.” He added: “The City is filing a lawsuit to protect the right of every union to negotiate on behalf of its members.”
City lawmakers swiftly criticized the administration’s lawsuit against the council.
“The Respect Check passed the Council by a vote of 49 to 0 because members across every borough and every political perspective agreed these workers deserve better,” Eric Dinowitz, chair of the council’s education committee, said in a statement. “Rather than build on this consensus, the administration has chosen to sue the body fighting for our paraprofessionals.”
City Council estimates the total cost of the $10,000 payments, issued in four installments between January and August 2027, will be about $325 million. Roughly 25,000 paraprofessionals are eligible in addition to substitute paraprofessionals, whose pay bumps will be prorated based on the number of days they work.
The union argues the pay increases are essential to begin addressing a shortage of roughly 1,600 paraprofessionals. Those vacancies can have severe consequences for students with disabilities, some of whom are not able to ride school buses without an aide.
The legislation has strong support from many paraprofessionals who say they deserve wages that reflect their importance to the school system and must work second or third jobs to make ends meet.
Undrea Polite, who has worked as a paraprofessional for 30 years, said she was disappointed that the city is fighting the pay bumps in court. She said she planned to use the money to help equip her sister’s house with a ramp so her elderly mother could get in and out more easily.
“I am so sad that the city is choosing to fight us — and fight some of the most underpaid, dedicated workers that they have,” she said.
Yet others argue the one-time payments aren’t a long-term fix and are frustrated the pay bumps won’t count toward their pensions.
“I’m all for getting more money but this does not solve the problem,” said Marie Wausnock, a union executive board member who co-founded a slate called Fix Para Pay, which largely opposes Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus. “The paras are pawns in this political game.”
Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
