PEOPLE OVER POLITICS

The Paraprofessional Pay & Training Act

A Statewide SPED Paraprofessional “Bridge” Standard

Legislation to be filed by Mike Stein upon taking office, Tennessee House District 47

Bill Summary

The Paraprofessional Pay & Training Act establishes a statewide “SPED Fundamentals” certification standard for every special education paraprofessional employed by a Tennessee local education agency (LEA), and creates a state-funded $3 an hour technical pay and retention bonus for paraprofessionals who complete it. This is a statewide standard, not a measure aimed at any single county or district. It applies equally in every LEA in Tennessee, urban and rural.

The Problem

Special education paraprofessionals are the backbone of the classroom in every district in this state. They are the adults who help a child with a disability get through a math lesson, manage a behavior plan, or communicate with the outside world. No special education program in Tennessee could run without them.

They are also some of the lowest-paid employees in Tennessee public schools, and the state has no required training standard specific to special education. A paraprofessional can be handed an IEP folder on day one with little more than a background check and good intentions. That is not fair to the paraprofessional, and it is not fair to the child.

The training gap is a statewide policy failure, not a local one. Tennessee is not among the states that offer a dedicated special education paraprofessional certification. Districts are left to set their own standards, or none at all, and pay follows the same pattern: uneven, inconsistent, and often too low to retain anyone with experience.

The result is a revolving door. Low pay and thin training push experienced assistants out of the classroom and into retail, food service, or another district willing to pay a little more an hour. Every time that happens, a student with a disability loses the one adult who knew how they learn best.

What This Act Does

1. A Statewide SPED Fundamentals Certification

Requires every LEA in Tennessee to provide a standardized SPED Fundamentals training track for special education paraprofessionals, covering IEP basics, behavior support, communication with students and families, and legal responsibilities under IDEA. The state board of education sets the standard; districts deliver the training, using state-provided curriculum and materials so no district has to build this from scratch.

2. A State-Funded $3 an Hour Technical Pay Bonus

Every paraprofessional who completes SPED Fundamentals certification receives a $3 an hour technical pay and retention bonus, funded through the state rather than billed to local budgets. Training and pay move together in this Act. We are not asking paraprofessionals to get more qualified for free, and we are not asking property-poor rural districts to fund a raise that wealthier districts could absorb more easily.

3. Funding Mechanism

This Act is funded by redirecting a portion of state dollars currently spent administering Tennessee’s school voucher program back into public education, consistent with the broader public school funding plan in this campaign. A program that pays a private company roughly $600 million to administer vouchers can instead fund a training and pay standard for the paraprofessionals already working in public classrooms today.

Why It Matters

This is an equity issue first. Students with disabilities across Tennessee, in cities and in rural counties alike, are being served every day by staff who are undertrained through no fault of their own and underpaid for work that is genuinely hard. A better-trained, better-retained paraprofessional workforce means fewer disrupted IEPs, fewer mid-year staff changes, and more consistency for kids who need it most.

It is also a rural equity issue. Districts like the ones in my own House district cannot out-bid Nashville or Chattanooga on pay, and a statewide, state-funded standard closes that gap instead of leaving it to local budgets that were never equal to begin with. A state mandate without state funding just becomes one more unfunded burden on the districts that can least afford it. This Act funds what it requires.

The Reality at Home: HD-47

I did not write this Act from a hearing room. I wrote it from the pay scales of the districts I am asking to send me to Nashville to represent. Here is what SPED paraprofessionals are paid today in Coffee and Grundy Counties, the two counties that make up House District 47:

*Tullahoma pays paraprofessionals on an annual salary rather than an hourly rate. This hourly figure assumes a 200-day, 7-hour day and should be confirmed against the district’s actual scheduled hours before public release.

Grundy County, which also has the highest poverty rate and the most underfunded schools of the districts I represent, pays its paraprofessionals the least of the three districts reviewed so far. The county with the greatest need has the least local ability to pay for the people meeting it. That is exactly the pattern a statewide, state-funded standard is built to correct, because it does not leave the fix to local budgets that were never equal to begin with.

This local data is not the subject of the Act. It is the proof of why the Act is needed everywhere, not just here.

A Parallel Track: Local Commitments in HD-47

Passing a state law takes time, and I am not waiting on Nashville to start this work. Alongside filing this Act, I am asking the four school boards in Coffee and Grundy Counties, Coffee County Schools, Manchester City Schools, Tullahoma City Schools, and Grundy County Schools, to voluntarily adopt the same certification and pay bonus now, ahead of any state requirement. That local effort is a separate, parallel initiative and is documented on its own. This Act is what makes that standard permanent and statewide once I am in office.

By the Numbers

Legislative Path

This Act becomes part of my legislative agenda for my first term, filed as a bill in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

• Finalize bill language and secure a Senate companion sponsor before the legislative session begins.
• Build a coalition of co-sponsors among rural legislators from both parties who represent districts with the same pay and training gap, since this is not a partisan problem.
• Route the bill through the House Education Administration Committee, with testimony from paraprofessionals and special education directors on what the training and pay gap actually looks like in a classroom.
• Pair the bill’s introduction with the same public pressure and local media strategy already under way for the school board commitments in HD-47, so voters statewide can see the local version of the problem this Act is meant to fix.

How We Measure Success

• The number and percentage of SPED paraprofessionals statewide who complete SPED Fundamentals certification, tracked by the state board of education.
• Statewide SPED paraprofessional turnover rates, tracked year over year against a pre-Act baseline.
• Passage and funding of the bill itself, and the number of school boards in HD-47 that adopt the standard locally ahead of any state requirement.

Timeline

This proposal will be finalized within the next month and folded into the campaign platform as a core piece of my education and equity agenda. The local school board commitments in HD-47 begin now, during the campaign. The Act itself will be filed as legislation upon taking office, targeting introduction in my first legislative session.

Mike Stein for Tennessee House District 47 • mikefortn47.com