Bloomington Federation of Paraprofessionals

05/21/2025

Keep this going. This so called "Big Beautuful Bill" will hurt people.

Without Medicaid many rural hospitals will close. We owe it to rural communities to reject Medicaid cuts.



Did you know that Medicaid in schools helps fund IEPs, school based health services, and supports for students with disabilities? Studies will be hurt if the GOP passes Medicaid cuts.



14 million Americans will lose health coverage if the GOP passes this bill.



Trump promised that he wouldn't touch Medicaid. But now his bill kicks millions of people off of Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk. Shameful.



The Republican budget slashes healthcare and food aid for families, guts public education and hands public money to private voucher schools—while making college even harder to afford. Families lose. Billionaires win.



Congress wants to gut Medicaid to give tax breaks to billionaires in the middle of the night. Unlike most members of Congress, this isn't the first night shift for healthcare union leaders. We're watching. We'll continue to fight for our patients. We know

04/28/2025

The Education Finance Committee passed proposed legislation that will roll back unemployment benefits for hourly school staff (including paraprofessionals) starting in 2029. President, Bill Schwandt, testified this morning encouraging representatives to vote NO on this bill.

Unemployment is a vital lifeline to much needed financial support during the months in which school is not in session. It also benefits students, teachers and families with continuity of services from year to year. Without UI there will be greater turnover of paraprofessionals each summer.

In Bloomington, if the school district had to pay for summer UI, it would account for less than 1/2 of 1% of the current school budget. This would also create a situation in which hourly school workers, unlike other seasonal employees in construction and resort workers, would not be able to collect this benefit.

The time to act is now! Contact Governor Tim Walz and ask him to to take a position of no support for this bill. You can do so by visiting https://mn.gov/governor/connect/contact-us/contact-form.jsp and sending him a message. We are encouraging not only paraprofessionals, but teachers, families, and community members to voice their concerns.

Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan 130 State Capitol 75 Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. St. Paul, MN 55155

04/26/2025

Delegates from the BFP are attending the EdMN RC this weekend and doing the work of our Union.

04/17/2025

Here is a letter written to a legislator by a BFP member about standing up to the attempts to roll back unemployment benefits. If you don't want to write your own letter you can use the link below to send a form letter for you.

https://edmn.me/42J2sBx

04/16/2025

There is an attempt in the Minnesota Legislature to roll back unemployment benefits for educational support professionals, which includes paraprofessionals. For the past two summers these benefits have provided much needed income for the underpaid and often under appreciated backbones of our schools.

Please contact you legislators and tell them to stand against any attempted roll back of unemployment benefits.

03/19/2025

Special education paraprofessional William Schwandt is deeply alarmed about federal money for public education, science and health programs being withheld by the Trump administration.

In an AFT Voices blog post, William talks about how he's seeing a concerted effort to strip away federal support and accountability. Read more it here: https://aftvoices.org/less-school-funding-exactly-where-we-need-more-fc9719ad542d

03/18/2025

Recently, I was asked to comment on my concerns about the current administration's dismantling of the Department of Education. My comments are turned into an article published on the AFT Voices website. It can be read at:

By William Schwandt

04/21/2024

After attending the EdMN Representative Convention Friday and Saturday, our president is off to Chicago to do work with the AFT Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel Policy and Procedure Committee.

04/20/2024

Union work does not stop when the school day ends. Sue Soderstrom and President Bill Schwandt represented the BFP at the EdMN Representative Convention.

04/18/2024

The membership of the BFP overwhelmingly ratified their Tentative Agreement for 2023-25 contract with 99% voting in favor. It goes to the school board for approval on 4/22.

04/09/2024

The BFP is pleased to announce that they have reached a tentative agreement with the district on the 2023-25 contract. More details will follow in the next few days.

02/21/2024

It's school bus driver appreciation day. Take time to acknowledge another school professional that makes school happen.