Parents, Staff Ask CPS To Budget for More Paraprofessional Staffing, But Superintendent Is Skeptical

Cambridge Public Schools parents and staff advocated for increased paraprofessional staffing — with no success — at a Tuesday School Committee meeting on the district’s fiscal year 2026 budget.

Paraprofessionals are school support staff employed around the district to assist teachers and provide individualized and small group support for students. After last year’s budget negotiations mobilized CPS affiliates to demand increased pay for paraprofessionals, their role in elementary education is again the center of debate.

During a public hearing of the superintendent’s proposed budget, Cambridge Education Association President Dan Monahan said that the district must allocate more paraprofessionals to elementary schools with a high percentage of high needs students.

Monahan noted that John M. Tobin Montessori School — one of the higher performing schools in the district — has a higher allocation of paraprofessional staff than other elementary schools, despite having fewer students with high needs.

“Why not dedicate the same level of Gen Ed paraprofessionals to all schools that you allocate to Tobin?” Monahan said. “Tobin has excellent test scores, and I believe the higher professional allocation is significant contributing factor.”

“This proposed budget actually allocates fewer paraprofessionals to schools with more students of high need,” he added. “This is exactly opposite what we should do.”

Missy Page, parent of a CPS fifth grader and member of the “CEA Solidarity Squad,” said that current paraprofessional allocation is a “very problematic equity issue.” Page said that the current budget, which sees fewer paraprofessional assignments at schools with more high needs students, could negatively impact students transitioning from the Kennedy-Longfellow school.

K-Lo currently houses the highest percentage of high needs students — English Language learners, low-income students, or students with disabilities — in the district. CPS voted to close the school due to persistent underenrollment and low test scores.

“I'm hopeful that the TBD staff decisions for existing K-Lo teachers and staff will fill these gaps,” Page said. “If not, K-Lo students will simply be moving buildings.”

Karen Engels, a fourth-grade teacher at Graham and Parks School, said she has personally felt the need for increased paraprofessional staffing in the district.

“The job of an elementary teacher has grown larger and larger, and we are now at a point where it is not humanly possible for any elementary teacher to meet the volume of demands,” Engels said.

“I am here on behalf of many colleagues who are considering leaving the profession,” Engels said. “I am here on behalf of my middle child, Clara, who’s graduating from CRLS and would like to be a teacher like her mama.”

“I want to be able to look her in the eye and say that is a great choice,” she said.

Andrew King, a CPS alum and member of the CEA Solidarity Squad, said that he learned about the need for more paraprofessionals through conversations with teachers across the district.

“I’ve heard time and again from these educators that they need additional consistent power support in their classroom,” he added. “Educators are overworked, stretched too thin, with a multitude of roles and tasks often extended beyond their core instructional capacities.”

CPS parent Carrie Young also spoke to the issue of inadequate paraprofessional staffing, and said that this has been an ongoing issue in the district.

“Every year, I feel like I come to the budget meeting and ask for more paraprofessionals, especially in elementary school — it really needs to be like one in every classroom,” she said.

Nora Grodzins, a paraprofessional at the Graham-Park School and former CPS parent, said it was important for teachers to have having additional help in classrooms.

“Paraprofessionals can mitigate the pressures teachers experience daily for the complex drama of learning,” she said.

“Teachers and paraprofessionals form a strong partnership to give the students what they need to shine even during the most demanding times of the day,” she added.

Interim Superintendent David G. Murphy said that he appreciated the “opportunity to supplement the level of support” that paraprofessionals provide, but did not agree to expand staffing beyond the budget’s current limitations.

“There is a sustainability issue with regard to paraprofessionals in every classroom at the elementary level, even for the Cambridge Public Schools, with our student expenditure rate twice that of the average district,” he said.

Murphy said he doubted that maintaining increased paraprofessional staffing is “feasible” for the district, instead advocating for a “strategic staffing structure” that would delineate the responsibilities of teachers and paraprofessionals.

“In the absence of putting together that type of strategic staffing plan, I think it would be irresponsible for the administration to advocate for the level of staffing that is being discussed here,” he said.

A budget workshop will be held on March 26 and the finalized budget will be voted for approval on April 1.

—Staff writer Ayaan Ahmad can be reached at ayaan.ahmad@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AyaanAhmad2024.

—Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at claire.michal@thecrimson.com.