ESP Bill of Rights aims to improve pay and working conditions
Every public education employee deserves the same things: to be paid a living wage, access to affordable health care, respect for their role in providing care for our students and safe working conditions. From custodial staff to bus drivers, food workers, paraprofessionals and more, ESPs in every role are the glue that keeps public schools together. Teachers can’t do their work without the critical support ESPs provide.
Unfortunately, many ESPs in Minnesota do not make a living wage and do not have access to affordable health care. For example, the average K-12 ESP salary was $35,938 for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
For over a decade, Education Minnesota has put forth an ESP Bill of Rights that proposes policies to improve pay, health care and working conditions for ESPs. We have successfully passed pieces of the ESP Bill of Rights, such as unemployment insurance for hourly workers, guaranteed pay for e-learning and snow days, and paid training for paraprofessionals. In 2025, we successfully fought off attempts to repeal unemployment insurance, ensuring that our hardworking hourly workers continue to have access to this important resource.
These are important gains, but ESPs still deserve more. Education Minnesota supports the following legislative proposals to improve pay, benefits and working conditions for ESPs:
- Require school districts and charter schools to pay their ESPs at least $25/hour. Every public school employee should be free to spend time with their families without having to work two or three extra jobs to survive.
- Protect workers from wage theft and crack down on employers who circumvent wage and benefits standards and laws, overtime payment, etc.
- Establish reporting and transparency requirements to identify issues of concern for ESPs on the worksite, such as staffing levels, pay scale, safety, fair scheduling and more.
ESP Bill of Rights
Already passed:
- Unemployment Insurance for hourly school workers.
- Guaranteed pay for E-learning days or snow days.
- 16 hours of paid training for instructional paraprofessionals.
- A guaranteed spot on the training committee at the district level.
Working on:
- Access to affordable and high-quality health care.
- 18 hours of paid training for all ESPs.
- Improving ESP pensions.
Health care
Education Minnesota is leading the fight to ensure access to affordable and high-quality health care for ESPs through the creation of one large health insurance pool for all school district employees. Called the Educator Group Insurance Program, the pool would be a huge step forward in addressing the crisis ESPs experience when trying to access health care.
One health care pool for all school district employees would:
- Maximize the value of cost sharing to reduce premium increases from year to year.
- Reduce unpredictability by ensuring better coverage and maximize bargaining power with health insurance carriers regarding coverage and benefits.
- Lessen administrative burden at the local level and remove unnecessary and costly broker fees.
As the Legislature returns this month, it’s important that educators make their voices heard on all of these issues. When we stand in solidarity for better pay and working conditions for all school employees, we can create the public schools our students deserve. For more ways to get involved this legislative session, see page 12.
