Senate Democrats voted unanimously to extend Connecticut’s popular Paid Family and Medical Leave program to as many as 50,000 public and private school employees, such as paraeducators, library support staff, and custodial and food service workers.
Senate Bill 1427 recently passed the Senate on a partisan 24-11 vote and now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Under the current Connecticut Paid Leave Act, boards of education are not covered unless their unionized employees collectively bargain to participate in the program. If that happens, all non-union employees of the board of education would also join. But many school workers (both public and private) have expressed an interest in joining the PFML program since its inception in 2019.
If passed by the House and signed by the governor, SB 1427 covers up to 37,000 workers in public schools, including:
- 12,676 special education paraeducators;
- 5,347 general education paraeducators;
- 365 library/media support staff;
- and 17,455 other staff, including custodial, food services, technical staff, security, maintenance, and transportation employees.
The bill also covers an estimated 12,700 workers in private schools.
Sen. Julie Kushner, who is Senate chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee and ushered the bill through the committee process, said she is thrilled to move the bill forward for those school employees who have asked for years why they don’t have access to this program.
“Now they will have access to paid family leave to deal with a sick family member or to bond with a newborn and to enjoy all the other benefits of our Paid Family and Medical Leave program,” Kushner said.
Kate Dias, president of Connecticut Education Association, said that support staff like paraprofessionals, custodians, food service workers, and bus drivers were critical to the success of students.
“They provide direct classroom support, ensure safe and clean learning environments, and keep our schools running. But without paid leave, they face an impossible choice, sacrificing their health or the well-being of a loved one just to keep their paycheck,” said Dias, whose union represents more than 40,000 active and retired teachers from over 150 school districts across the state. “Senate Bill 1427 seeks to address this by ensuring that non-certified staff are included in the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program and receive this basic level of benefits.”
The potential financial impact of including these school employees on Connecticut’s PFML fund is expected to be minimal: actuaries have determined that school employees in other states utilize the program at the same rate as the general public.
The bill also provides equity in coverage: many school employees — especially those who are in food service or janitorial work — are employed by contractors who are covered by employers under CT Paid Leave. SB 1427 allows workers in the same positions who are employed by a local board of education to now have the same coverage.
To date, Connecticut’s PFML program has paid out $1.15 billion in claims to 158,000 workers. 85% of the claims have been for an illness, bonding with a newborn (evenly split between men and women) or providing care to a sick family member. CT Paid Leave claims come from every city and town in the state.
