Connecticut Boosts Health Care Support for Paraeducators

A temporary subsidy program launched last year to help thousands of Connecticut paraeducators cover out-of-pocket health care expenses has been renewed and expanded, state officials announced Tuesday.

During a mid-day press conference outside Meriden’s Francis Maloney High School, State Comptroller Sean Scanlon said the bolstered program would help school districts fill critical paraeducator vacancies as students returned to classrooms across Connecticut.

“There is already a shortage of these individuals [paraeducators] to meet the needs that we have in the classrooms of Connecticut and so we came together and did what Connecticut does best, which is — thanks to the governor’s leadership, the legislature — we got everyone around a table and we figured out what we could do to solve what was very big problem,” Scanlon said.

Last year, the program received $5 million in state funding and helped 4,166 paraeducators cover out-of-pocket expenses under high-deductible health care plans. State officials have renewed that subsidy for this school year.

This year, policymakers also dedicated an additional $5 million to expanding the initiative through a second subsidy intended to offset the cost of insurance premiums paid by paraeducators who are enrolled in traditional copay plans.

State officials expect the two subsidies to assist a combined total of roughly 6,000 paraeducators across the state.

Sen. Jan Hochadel, a Meriden Democrat and former teacher, said the assistance would begin to remedy a disparity between the vital work performed by paraeducators and the compensation they receive. She described paraeducators as the “glue” that held many schools together, often caring for and supporting many of the state’s most vulnerable students.

“The truth is, our public schools could not provide the academic and social support that are needed for all students without our paraeducators,” Hochadel said, “and, as has been mentioned many times, these are most often our lowest-paid workers.”

Sen. Doug McCrory, a longtime educator who co-chairs the legislature’s Education Committee, said he found paraeducators to be essential to a functioning classroom. McCrory said the expanded subsidy announced Tuesday represented a step toward fair compensation for paraeducators.

“As we continue to move forward, we need to provide a living wage and also encourage more of our young people to get that experience in the classroom,” McCrory said. “I know so many people who were paras at first and became teachers themselves because they had that experience.”

During the press conference, Gov. Ned Lamont praised Connecticut’s schools as the best in the nation and said he expected to continue building on the health care subsidies for paraeducators who supported those schools.

“What I love about our state is we care about these kids,” the governor said. “And a little bit of extra respect to show what we can do for our paras — make it a little bit easier for them to show up every day, make it a little bit easier for them to live. That’s what we’re trying to do today, that’s what this subsidy means.”

Posted by Hugh McQuaid