Musings: Therapists stuck in school pay gap

Long Island teachers rightfully earn six-figure salaries, which are necessary given our high cost of living and professional development required of all educators. Yet school occupational and physical therapy professionals face an arbitrary, outdated classification system.

School counselors, psychologists, social workers, and speech-language pathologists automatically join teachers’ unions with educational credentials and leadership pathways. OTs and PTs? We pray school districts do the right thing.

Some districts hire therapists as educators with full union benefits. Others exploit Civil Service as a loophole — lower pay scales, fewer salary steps, no education stipends. If trapped in Civil Service, physical therapists now need doctorates yet earn thousands of dollars less than classroom teachers with master’s degrees. The Janus Supreme Court decision in 2018 means districts that made poor choices decades ago legally cannot transfer therapists to teachers’ unions, perpetuating these inequities indefinitely.

My Touro University research team surveyed 714 New York school-based OTs. The results? An overwhelming 94.7% want access to administrative training and leadership pathways, unavailable for Civil Service employees. This isn’t a few disgruntled workers — it’s a near-unanimous consensus among school OTs.

This is also a gender equity issue. Occupational therapists are 91% women. New York City’s 2024 Pay Disparity Report confirms that 95% of gender and racial pay gaps in municipal employment stem from occupational segregation, which concentrates women in lower-paying job titles.

Pending state legislation would create career pathways for therapy practitioners, bringing New York in line with federal expectations and how we treat other master’s-level school professionals. The evidence is overwhelming. The research is published. Will Albany act?

— Jaime Spencer, Nesconset

The writer is a school OT who led the Touro University study.