ESPecially Generous!

When kids can't afford lunch, just who comes up with the dough? Often it's the cafeteria worker who reaches into her own wallet and dumps a few dollars into the till. But she isn't the only education support professional (ESP) who spends her own cash on the kids—not by a long shot.

The average ESP has both a small paycheck and a big heart. While K–12 ESPs earn $24,668 a year, on average, they spend $168 on students. In higher ed, those figures are $33,328 and $347 annually, according to a preliminary report from NEA Research.

"I see ESPs helping students get to functions and field trips. I even know of cases where they've actually paid for glasses," says Laura Montgomery, a home-school-community liaison ESP in Little Rock, Arkansas, who also is president of the National Council of Education Support Professionals.

"Even though many of us don't make the money necessary to take care of our own, we still find ways to reach out to others," says Montgomery. "We don't always put ourselves in the forefront."

To read more about NEA's campaign to secure a living wage for every education support professional, head to our ESP professional pay Web site at www.nea.org/pay.