1. The 2023 ESP Earnings report, released this week by NEA, offers a pay breakdown of school support staff working in K-12 public schools and higher education.
2. The report paints a dire picture of the financial challenges facing education support professionals across the nation.
3. More than a third of all ESPs working full-time earn less than $25,000 per year, and 11.7% earn less than $15,000. On average, these educators make $2,361 less than they did 10 years ago, adjusted for inflation.

Of the approximately 2.2 million education support professionals (ESPs) working in K-12 public schools, 40% of those working full-time earn less than $25,000 annually.

Jeanette Schwartz, a bus driver in New Castle, Delaware, is one of them.

“Most days, I work for 12 hours or more. Wages are a major issue,” she explains. Even with a recent pay increase, “we still live under the poverty line. Working 12-hour days as a school bus driver, I will make just over $20,000 this year.”

Schwartz’s district, like countless others across the nation, has been plagued by staff shortages that have reached across every job category: bus driver, paraprofessionals, classroom teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers.

“There’s a commonsense solution: pay us a living wage for doing a vital job,” Schwartz said.

According to the 2023 ESP Earnings report, which offers a pay breakdown of school support staff working in K-12 public schools and higher education, the nation is falling far short of that goal.

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