In 2018, when Arti (Arcelia) O’Connor was serving a 10-year term as the president of the Gilroy Federation of Paraeducators, AFT Local 1921, the Classified Employee Summer Assistance Program started.
The purpose of the program is to offer some relief for school employees who don’t work the full year and may struggle not getting a paycheck in the summer. The program offers people not only a way to get paid when school is out, but also more for every dollar they have put in. The way it works is people have money withheld from their paycheck, and then get it in the summer — along with more funds, which the state allocates for the program. The assistance is available to K-12 classified employees who work 11 months or fewer out of the year and make less than $62,400.
O’Connor, who is also a CFT Vice President, met with leaders in the school district to tell them about the program. But they declined to participate, saying it would cost the district money.
This year, things have changed. The district has a new superintendent, and the members of the Gilroy Federation of Paraeducators, can now take part in the program.
Even though she retired in 2021, O’Connor still wanted to help get information out to members, and she sent out newsletters, directing people to the website and helping those who were interested fill out the program application.
The current president of the local, Jacqueline Stevenson, is glad that Local 1921 will participate in the program.
“I had been going to meetings, so I knew this was something that the board when Arti was president wanted for all of us, but the answer from the district was always no,” Stevenson said. “When it was yes, I was thrilled because everybody who doesn’t work in the summer knows that it’s a struggle to have to go without a paycheck.”
Because of a March deadline to sign up, the local quickly set up meetings to inform the members about the program. The members had lots of questions, especially about how it would affect their taxes and CalPERS, Stevenson says.
In spite of the program being new for their local, a lot of people signed up, Stevenson said — about half of the 160 members.
Members who did sign up will have 30 days from when school starts to change their minds, Stevenson says. They might do that if they are worried they won’t be able to forgo the money during the school year, she says.
She adds that the superintendent wanted a lump sum such as $200, rather than a percentage of the members’ paychecks. She found out at the beginning of June the amount that the state will add to what the members put in — 63 cents for every employee dollar.
Stevenson thinks these additional paychecks —and the extra money — will make a difference to the AFT Local 1921 members. Carl Williams, President of the Council of Classified Employees and the Lawndale Federation of Classified Employees, as well as an AFT Vice President, talked to the union about the program, she says.
“He came and spoke to everybody at our luncheon a couple of years ago,” she said. “He said it was a great thing. He pushed in his own district to have it, and he really supported it and said that everyone should be doing it.”
O’Connor also thinks it will improve the members’ lives and give them a cushion.
“If you put money into this program, you’ll get more money back. It’s a way of increasing your income,” she said. “The way the program works, there’s a specific pot of money that will be divided amongst the number of people who apply to be in the program. My perspective was, why not put your money into a program that will get you more?”