Part-Time Assistants in Schools Pose Dilemma : Cooperation between union and district is required for a solution that won’t rob the classroom of help.

The city school district’s recently revealed teaching assistant dilemma should strike a sympathetic chord with many employers.

The San Diego Unified School District has 3,300 assistants who are not paid benefits, because their jobs were originally created as sort-of paid internships for full-time college students.

The problem is that about 2,800 of them are not full-time students.

The teaching assistants perform essentially the same work--in classrooms, libraries, offices and security--as instructional aides, who are paid benefits. The situation seems inherently inequitable.

But it’s difficult to condemn the situation. With tight budgets, and 30 to 35 students to a class, the temptation for educational administrators to overlook some rules is all too real.

Many businesses have taken similar steps, hiring a couple of benefitless part-time workers instead of one full-time employee with benefits. As much as 40% of a salary can be saved.

In the process, however, a large class of low-paid, uninsured employees has been created nationwide.

For businesses, directly or indirectly, the motivation is profit.

Obviously that is not the case with the school district, but money was still the bottom-line consideration.

Nearly two teaching assistant positions can be created for the cost of one instructional aide position.

Not surprisingly, the teaching assistants and their union have protested.

The school district says that, if it begins paying benefits, up to 40% of its teaching assistants could be laid off.

That would cripple many campuses, particularly in low-income communities and communities with many non-English speaking families. In these cases, “community based” teaching assistants are often parents who help out with students who might speak Vietnamese, Hmong or Laotian.

What is strange is that the school district has no records on how many of the assistants are “community-based,” how many are working in jobs normally done by clerical workers covered by the union, how many are working in the classroom and how many qualify for another program for part-time college students.

The district also has no method for making sure that part-time students actually complete the classes that make them eligible for these jobs.

And, until they gather that information, defining the scope of the problem and coming up with solutions are impossible.

The one fortunate aspect of the dilemma is the timing. Labor relations between the unions and the district have never been better.

Constructive and cooperative attitudes will be needed on both sides to come up with a fair approach that does not rob the classrooms of much needed assistance.