<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4GmO96_0vikAWsK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4GmO96_0vikAWsK00" width="525" height="350" ><figcaption>Bus drivers and other classified staff in Washington schools are struggling with the high cost of living the state. (Julianna Olah/Adobe Stock)</figcaption></figure>Workers in Washington state schools are spotlighting the need for higher wages as kids settle back into the classroom. Workers at the preschool through high school levels known as classified staff - people other than teachers who help schools run - are paid low wages and sometimes work multiple jobs to stay afloat. That's why the American Federation of Teachers of Washington is campaigning for higher pay for classified workers. David Patten, a bus driver for the Renton School District, said some of his coworkers with families, for instance, are having a hard time getting by."They're working that job on top of having to apply for state benefits or state help. That shouldn't happen these days. f you're working, you know, 40 hours a week, there shouldn't really be that struggle," he said.Patten said AFT Renton, representing classified staff in the district, was recently able to secure a new contract. But workers are still facing low wages. For example, he notes that nutrition service workers earn 26 dollars an hour, too low they say, after decades of work in the district.Patten said it took eight months to hammer out a new contract for classified workers in Renton schools and that his union nearly went on strike, and added that many members were frustrated with the contrast between their pay and that of higher positions in the school district, such as the superintendent's."All we have money to do is pay our bills and make sure that we're able to make our mortgage, make our rent and do those things while some of the other people that are sitting up there are able to do whatever they want to do, and they look at us when we're asking for, maybe, a 6% raise or 7% raise and telling us 'no' and making us fight for it," Patten contended. Patten added he and other classified workers are the ones who ensure schools efficient operation. "Being able to provide those services and make sure that those kids are there safely, getting to eat, the mechanics making sure the buses are working, the plumbers and stuff making sure the stuff at the schools are working - without any of us, there is no school," he said. Disclosure: American Federation of Teachers of Washington contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy &amp; Priorities, Early Childhood Education, Education, Livable Wages/Working Families. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

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Classified workers at WA schools struggling with living costs

Workers in Washington state schools are spotlighting the need for higher wages as kids settle back into the classroom. Workers at the preschool through high school levels known as classified staff - people other than teachers who help schools run - are paid low wages and sometimes work multiple jobs to stay afloat. That's why the American Federation of Teachers of Washington is campaigning for higher pay for classified workers.