Mamdani’s About-Face on Teacher Aide Bonuses Doesn’t Make Them Illegal, City Council Tells Court

The New York City Council is chiding Mayor Zohran Mamdani for going back on his word in a filing to a Manhattan judge asking him to throw out the mayor’s lawsuit attempting to block the city’s teachers’ aides from receiving $10,000 bonuses.The mayor campaigned on promises to support the pay boost for public school paraprofessionals, who support students with special needs throughout the school day and whose starting salary of $34,000 is less than what many fast food workers earn at New York City. But, once in office, the mayor declined to sign Local Law 129, which the City Council passed unanimously in July. When the bill, also dubbed the RESPECT Check Act, lapsed into law without his signature in August, Mr. Mamdani’s administration sued to block it. After the council responded, urging Judge Carol Sharpe to toss the suit and calling out the mayor’s about-face, the administration argued that the mayor’s past support of the bill was outside the facts of the case.The council countered in its brief Tuesday that state law enables the city to offer bonus wages, and the mayor’s flip does not change that.“The Mayor, who affirmatively chose to bring this lawsuit, does not get to litigate his case in an imaginary world bereft of legislative history that he dislikes,” the council said.“Here, there is no dispute that Mr. Mamdani, as a candidate in 2025, repeatedly supported the precise legislative solution embodied in Local Law 129. The local law’s legislative history reflects that fact,” the council said, referencing footage of the Democratic primary debate.On the debate stage in June 2025, Mr. Mamdani advocated for improving education for students with complex needs by increasing access to tutoring and hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes, shouting out The RESPECT Check bill directly. “When we’re talking about paraprofessionals, we have so many vacant positions because these positions simply do not pay enough,” Mr. Mamdani said at the time. “I support legislation in the council … that would create a recurring annual bonus so that we can fill those positions because ultimately what every child and what every parent of that child deserves is the same high-quality, excellent education. As the bill progressed toward becoming law after his election, however, Mr. Mamdani changed his tune, saying the RESPECT Checks would violate New York state’s Taylor Law, which obligates city agencies to engage in collective bargaining with workers, limiting their ability to strike in exchange.While the Taylor Law requires that city workers’ wages be determined through collective bargaining, it “did not take away pre-existing options that public employees had for pursuing local legislative action to improve working conditions or pay,” the council argues.City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who championed the RESPECT check legislation, said in a statement Tuesday evening that the legislation was passed because union bargaining had failed paraprofessionals. “The collective bargaining process was designed to give public employees a seat at the table to negotiate fairer pay and working conditions. But when that process breaks down, the Council has a responsibility to step in and take decisive legislative action to protect both our city’s workers and our most vulnerable students,” Ms. Menin said. She also seemed to allude to the mayor’s about-face, calling paraprofessionals “essential city workers, who day after day dedicate their time, energy, and care to serving some of our city’s highest need students” and whose work “cannot just be celebrated with words and affirmations.” The paraprofessional bonuses are necessary “to address what cannot be described as anything other than a crisis within our public education system,” Ms. Menin continued.Earlier this year, the city’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, estimated that New York City public schools were short of approximately 1,600 aides.That desperation may be driving some questionable hiring practices. Brooklyn elementary school paraprofessional Sayed Mohassib was arrested Saturday and charged in the stabbing death of Katie Suarez while she was out for a run on October 30. Mr. Mohassib was previously discharged from Marine Corps training for failing the branch’s psychiatric evaluation, multiple outlets have reported. When he requested to rejoin the New York Police Department, where he worked prior to joining the military, he was denied, and transported to Bellevue Hospital, with supervisors reporting “concerning behavior” and a “disheveled” appearance, a New York Police Department spokesperson told The New York Sun.New York City’s Department of Education first placed Mr. Mohassib on leave following the arrest, but terminated his employment after his work history was made public Monday.

Mamdani’s About-Face on Teacher Aide Bonuses Doesn’t Make Them Illegal, City Council Tells Court

Mamdani’s About-Face on Teacher Aide Bonuses Doesn’t Make Them Illegal, City Council Tells Court

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