AFT CALLS FOR FRESH LOOK AT PARAPROFESSIONALS

Now that the ranks of paraprofessionals in American schools have grown to more than 1 million, it's time to see how well these dedicated workers are supporting instruction.

Working with the AFT research department, the AFT PSRP division has compiled a compelling document that disputes the misconception that paraprofessionals don't make a difference in the classroom.

The main point of this overview of research is that the key to paraprofessionals' effectiveness is the right training, assignment and supervision. Find the three-page paper at www.aft.org/psrp/topics/download/ParasandStudAchieve.pdf.

What's needed now, AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese says, is a major new study on the contributions of instructional support staff. "I'm confident such a study would show that the nation's 1 million paraprofessionals are making a big difference for students."

MARYLAND GOVERNOR SIGNS STATE LIVING WAGE BILL

Maryland became the first state in the nation with a living wage law when Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill in May that requires government service contractors to pay their employees well above the federal minimum wage.

"What a difference a Democratic governor makes," says AFT Maryland president Lorretta Johnson, an AFT vice president. Our members in Maryland played an important role last fall in helping O'Malley unseat Republican incumbent Robert Ehrlich, who had vetoed a living wage bill. "All workers should earn a decent, livable wage, especially those in urban areas where it is more expensive to live," Johnson notes.

As O'Malley puts it, the law is designed to guarantee "that a full day's work earns a full day's pay." The law sets two wage levels: $11.30 an hour in the expensive Baltimore-Washington area and $8.50 an hour in the rest of the state.

Maryland was the home of the first local living wage law, which Baltimore adopted in 1994. Since then, more than 140 communities across the country have enacted living wage laws, including Albuquerque, N.M, after a huge push by AFT New Mexico.

LAWMAKERS IDLING ON SCHOOL BUS EMISSIONS

Federal and state lawmakers have been dragging their feet in funding laws they passed to clean up toxic emissions from school buses.

In 2005, Congress passed a law to replace or retrofit the worst diesel engines, but so far, the Associated Press reports, it hasn't delivered on the $1 billion it promised to help states upgrade their fleets, including school buses.

Like the buses, many state legislatures also are idling. When diesel fumes get inside school buses, the effects can range from headaches and dizziness to asthma and lung cancer.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends three strategies:

• Eliminate unnecessary idling. EPA says that continuous idling for more than three minutes throws off more soot than a restart.

• Retrofit old buses. Two kinds of filters are available: a muffler replacement and a filtration system for the crankcase. Buses can use one or both, and they each reduce emissions by at least 85 percent.

• Replace the oldest buses. Manatee County, Fla., has just bought two of the first plug-in hybrid electric school buses. The buses are projected to cut diesel emissions by 90 percent.

To find out how to reduce pollution inside school buses and how to get a local campaign going for cleaner buses, go to www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.

For our members who are bus drivers, the AFT health and safety program has produced a fact sheet on emissions called "The Many Hazards of Diesel." To get a copy, call 800/238-1133, ext. 5677