If you’ve been in the school-based therapy world for more than a minute, you know the feeling of looking at the teachers’ salary schedule, looking at your master’s or doctoral degree, looking at your mountains of specialized continuing education… and feeling completely invisible.
I felt that exact frustration for more than two decades. But today, I’m writing to tell you that the ceiling has officially cracked.
My home district just ratified a historic CSEA contract. We didn’t make a few minor tweaks — we rewrote the blueprint for how Civil Service therapy practitioners are valued in New York State.
Here is exactly what we secured for OT and PT:
- A $10,886 Master’s stipend
- Brand-new Master’s +30 stipend of ($16,424) and Master’s +60 stipend ($21,926) — earned through specialized professional continuing education (CEUs) and graduate courses converted into salary credits
- A dedicated Doctoral stipend ($24,894) recognizing our highest-level degrees
- A $5,000 specialized stipend for holding an Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) certification
In all of my research into NYS school district contracts so far, I have not found another CSEA Civil Service contract that has successfully built educational lanes like this for OTs and PTs. So how did we pull off the “impossible”? And more importantly, how can you do it in your district? Let’s dive in.
The Root of the Problem: Why OTs and PTs Get Left Behind in NYS
To fight a system, you have to understand how it’s wired. In New York State, the wage gap between teachers and therapists isn’t usually personal — it’s structural.
Under the New York State Education Department (NYSED), professions like speech-language pathology, school psychology, and social work are housed under Pupil Personnel Services (PPS) within the Office of Teaching Initiatives. Because they’re classified as instructional, they automatically land on the teacher salary schedule, complete with built-in lanes for professional growth (those coveted +30 and +60 columns).
Occupational and Physical Therapists are missing from that PPS list. Instead, we’re classified under Civil Service.
Because of that classification, administrators and union reps have historically thrown up their hands and said, “Civil Service contracts don’t have educational lanes. There’s nothing we can do.” For decades, we’ve been boxed into a medical mold, fighting a constant battle to prove we are educators and vital Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP).
But “we’ve always done it this way” is no longer an acceptable excuse.
The Advocacy Blueprint: Data, Presentation, and Persistence
Our peer-reviewed research (published in JOTSEI) found that 96% of school-based OTPs are calling for systemic change to how we’re classified and compensated. This isn’t one frustrated therapist’s problem — it’s a profession-wide structural gap.
When it came time to advocate in my own district, I didn’t just go to administration and complain that things weren’t fair (this time). I treated advocacy like a professional presentation. If you want to change the minds of a Superintendent, an HR Director, or a Union Board, you have to speak their language.
Here is the three-step framework I used:
1. Present the Data Professionally
I built a side-by-side comparison the district couldn’t ignore:
- The salary schedules. In my district, the Master’s stipend for OTs and PTs had been frozen at $2,500 since 2001 — while the same degree earned other related service providers a differential of $10,672 to $21,593 on the teacher schedule.
- The duties. A comparison table showing that OTs and PTs perform the same IEP-mandated, legal responsibilities — standardized testing for eligibility, parent communication, aligning goals with curriculum, superintendent conference days — as the providers being paid on the teacher schedule.
- The cost avoidance. Our district’s assistive technology caseload had grown 460% in four years. Contracted AT services in New York run $110–$150 per hour, with formal evaluations costing up to $3,200 per case. Certified in-house expertise saves the district real money.
- The regional picture. Neighboring districts with similar tax bases already compensate OTs and PTs on the teacher salary schedule — proof that parity is fiscally achievable in our region.
I handed over data that proved a stable, well-compensated therapy department directly protects the district’s special education infrastructure.
2. Offer a Creative Solution
Administrators are busy. If you bring them a problem, you must bring the solution on a silver platter. I proposed a clean, realistic framework showing exactly how clinical CEUs could be mathematically converted into salary credits to mimic the teachers’ +30 and +60 columns — without violating Civil Service rules, and without creating an administrative headache for HR.
3. Relentless, Gracious Follow-Up
Change doesn’t happen in a single meeting. I met with administration, submitted the data, and followed up with unwavering consistency and professional grace. I didn’t let the paperwork gather dust on a desk.
When my union board saw the data and realized we had a viable framework, they stepped up and advocated fiercely for us at the table. When administration reviewed the numbers, they opened their minds to a brand-new way of doing things.
Don’t Give Up: Your District Could Be Next
If you’ve been told by your union or your district that educational columns “can’t be done” for Civil Service OTs and PTs, I’m living proof that they’re wrong. The mold has been broken right here in New York. When you present the right data to the right leaders, structural change is entirely possible.
You are a vital piece of the instructional team. Your advanced training directly impacts student success, safety, and classroom independence every single day. It’s time our contracts reflected that.
🎁 Grab My Free District Advocacy Template
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel or spend years staring at a blank page. To help you kickstart the conversation in your own district, I’ve put together a Free District Advocacy Template.
It’s completely customizable — plug in your own district’s salary schedules, caseload data, and regional comparisons. It’s the exact proposal framework that unlocked an $10,000+ raise and historic educational columns for my department.
Present the data.
Play the long game.
And go get what you’re worth.