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Peg Bestul displays her $1.72 two-week paycheck from the Wausau school district.
Peg Bestul had quite the shock when she opened her paycheck in mid-April. Her take-home pay for two weeks of work at the Wausau school district was $1.72.
And that wasn't the worst of it.
A closer look revealed the Franklin Elementary School paraprofessional actually owed the district $110 to cover her health insurance premium. For that particular pay period, she was $108.28 in the hole.
"I think the school board is unaware of what is going on," Bestul said as she marched with about 130 colleagues and supporters Monday (May 14, 2007) to a school board meeting to shed light on the issue and demand a contract that respects the hard work of the district's education support professionals. The march was organized by the Wausau Education Support Professionals, who have been without a contract since last July 1.
Not all of Bestul's paychecks are negative. This one covered the period during spring break when the school was closed for several days. Because education support professionals are paid by the hour, they do not get paid when school is closed - and they don't qualify for unemployment benefits. Bestul said most people don't realize that ESP don't get paid when school is out for spring, winter and summer break, snow days or teacher inservice days. But they continue to be charged for their full health insurance premium. In fact, she said, 11 of the 21 paychecks she receives throughout the year are partial paychecks.
"You can't budget," she said.
Bestul works 30 hours a week and even when her paycheck is a full one there is not much left over after paying $389 a month for health insurance, up from $302 last year.
Because she didn't get a pay increase this year and insurance increased by $87, she said, "my paycheck is $87 less every month this year than last year." And the insurance premium in the self-funded district is projected to increase another 18% on July 1.
Why would someone work under such conditions?
"I enjoy working with the kids," she said.
That is a sentiment repeated over and over again by the Wausau ESP, most of whom are dependent on a spouse for money to pay the bills at home.
"We love the kids, and that's why we're here," said JoAnn Dombrowsky, a special education aide at Horace Mann Middle School. "We need better wages for the work we do. We change diapers, feed kids, clean up vomit and blood. No one else will do that for the wages we get."
"We sure don't do this job for the money," added Mary Rennicke, also a special education aide at Horace Mann, who said her post-spring break paycheck was $15. "It's because we love the kids."
A single person could not support a family on such meager wages, and that severely limits the pool of people who can work in these jobs, something that concerns Rennicke.
For example, she said, "We need more young men in these jobs. We have kids who need to be lifted, and we need the strength of young men."
In the long run, all the Wausau ESP are asking for is a living wage, described as an hourly wage that covers the bare necessities of a full-time worker. The actual wage that constitutes a living wage varies by community, and in Wausau it is believed to be around $16 an hour. Most ESP in Wausau are a long way from that - Bestul is about $4 an hour below a living wage - and the School Board is offering a raise of just 13 cents an hour in the first year of the contract and no increase in the second year, an offer that the ESP find to be insulting.
"I don't know where the 13 cents is coming from," said East High School special education aide Jamie Kickbusch. "We would need 72 cents an hour just to cover the insurance increase. They're just jerking us around."
"We just want the board to be fair," said Diana Siegel, who works in the commons at East High School. "Everybody's got to eat," added her husband Craig who joined the march to show his support for fair wages.
The Wausau ESP include para-educators, school secretaries, health paras, ELL paras and translators, and technical support staff. In other locals, they often include food service workers, bus drivers, custodians and more. Nationwide, ESP have traditionally been paid very low wages and provided with meager benefits. But ESP - including those in Wausau - are organizing to reverse that trend and are fighting for a living wage.
"There are a lot of people who are struggling to make ends meet," said Wausau ESP President Dawn Leslie. "Some of us wouldn't be able to buy a loaf of bread with what the board is offering us."
Posted May 15, 2007