Jeffco Legislators Support a Living Wage for JESPA!

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This week, many of our Jeffco legislators took action to support a living wage and our proposal during fact-finding for all Jeffco Education Support Professionals. They sent this letter to the Jeffco Board of Education! Let’s send a thank you note to our legislators! (you can personalize this letter)

Last October a number of you participated in a JESPA Town Hall event where you asked a group of our Jeffco Legislative candidates “If elected, what will you personally do to ensure a living wage and safety for frontline workers (ESP) in Jeffco Public Schools?” These representatives gave assurances during the event and went on to get elected to their seats.

Many Education Support Professionals are residents of Jeffco and voters! And we must hold our legislators accountable to their promises to support their constituents in their time of need.  To that end, JESPA leaders have been doing outreach to our community allies and Jeffco elected officials to support our priorities.

Just recently, the JESPA bargaining team presented a NEW proposal for wages.  Because the district is seeing an unprecedented influx of over $100 million dollars and because of the district’s pattern of drastically overestimating expenses, the forecasted UNASSIGNED reserves will be $248.4 million dollars by 2024.  This is in excess of the required TABOR and Board Policy reserves. 

JESPA proposed: 

  • 2 step increases
  • Make the 3% stipend (which will be on paychecks this month) ongoing and added to compensation.
  • Increase each cell by $3 per hour

On Thursday, JCEA went to the table with a very similar proposal.  JCEA brought forth much of the information JESPA presented in fact-finding and added even further analysis into the district’s spending patterns. These patterns are now exposed, thanks to the JESPA bargaining team for exposing this practice! JCEA’s financial presentation video is here.

Now we want to know, what would a pay increase mean for you? How might your life be transformed?

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Jeffco Education Support Professionals ensure the safety, health, and success of all students.

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