New York City Council Calls for Court to Dismiss Mamdani Administration’s Paraprofessional Lawsuit

Council argues consistent mayoral administration inaction has created a crisis requiring a legislative remedy

NEW YORK - Today, the New York City Council filed its legal response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's lawsuit challenging the validity of Local Law 129 of 2026 and seeking to prevent the City's paraprofessionals from receiving emergency workforce stabilization payments. In its filing, the Council calls on the Court to decline to hear the Mayor's lawsuit or declare that Local Law 129 is valid and not preempted by state Taylor Law. The filing argues that the current and previous mayoral administrations' failure to address the ongoing paraprofessional workforce crisis necessitated the need for the Council to take legislative action. It also outlines how Local Law 129 represents the narrow, tailored exercise of the Council's legislative authority allowed by the Taylor Law and Education Law.

The Council's legal filing can be found here:

Memorandum of Law

"For years, New York City has faced a severe shortage of paraprofessionals that has left some of our most vulnerable students without the services they are legally entitled to receive," said Speaker Julie Menin. "The Council acted because this crisis demanded action. Our legislation was passed unanimously by the Council and provides a narrow, temporary workforce stabilization payment to address this emergency while fully preserving the collective bargaining process. We are confident in the Council's authority to enact this law and will vigorously defend it so that our paraprofessionals receive the support they deserve and our students have the professionals they need in their classrooms."

"We have a crisis in the classroom," said Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers. "The UFT surveyed schools at the start of this school year and found thousands of paraprofessional vacancies. Unfilled positions are left empty or filled with a rotation of substitutes, which does not provide consistency for high-need students. Instead of solving this crisis we are fighting it in court. Make this make sense."

On July 17, the Council unanimously passed Local Law 129, sponsored by Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, which would require the Department of Education (DOE) to provide a workforce stabilization payment, totaling up to $10,000, to each eligible school paraprofessional for work performed during the 2026-2027 school year. The workforce stabilization payment would be prorated according to the number of days an eligible school paraprofessional was on payroll in the relevant payment period during the 2026-2027 school year. It would be paid in four separate installments. As of March 2026, there were over 1,000 paraprofessional vacancies. This crisis has led to students with disabilities not receiving their legally mandated services, contributing to the $1.5 billion the City most recently allocated towards due process cases.

"The over 25,000 paraprofessionals serving our city face a dire affordability crisis of their own that the collective bargaining process with City Hall has yet to solve," said Council Member Carmen De La Rosa. "The City Council passed Local Law 129 unanimously to address this crisis with a one-time stabilization bonus while the bargaining process runs its course. Making a single payment of $10,000, in the face of billions in taxpayer funds being wasted due to unmet legal mandates in classrooms, is a constructive move forward. Our children deserve the best education our public school system can manage, and that includes taking care of the workers who run it. We, as legislators, cannot sit idly by as our municipal workforce pleads for help, and we hope the new administration can address this efficiently and swiftly in its process."

Excerpts from the Memorandum of Law:

"In the face of this educational and fiscal emergency, the Mayor asserts he has the exclusive power to end this crisis, through collective bargaining. But he hasn't made it happen. He has not addressed the crisis by bargaining, nor by honoring his campaign promise to provide paras a '$10,000 bonus' via local law. Instead, he has filed this legal challenge to Local Law 129, hoping that the Court will give him legal and political cover for his failure to address the problem."

"It is well-settled that courts may decline to issue a declaration where, as here, (1) the underlying problem is one of plaintiffs' own creation; (2) the plaintiffs could address the problem but have failed to do so; or (3) available administrative remedies have not been pursued. Any of those shortcomings is sufficient to warrant dismissal of the Complaint without issuance of a declaration."

"In their Complaint, Plaintiffs contend that (1) the Taylor Law requires the 'terms and conditions of employment' to be collectively bargained by the executive branch in all instances, and (2) Local Law 129 sets the 'terms and conditions' of paraprofessionals' employment without bargaining.

"The Mayor's contrary reading of the Taylor Law finds no support in the law's text, history, or precedent. The Mayor's core textual argument hinges, counterintuitively, on the 'definitions' section of the Taylor Law. But nothing about these 'definitions' requires action or allocates responsibility or authority; they merely define terms used elsewhere in the law.

The definition of 'agreement' states that it is 'negotiated' by the chief executive. No one disputes that. But it says nothing about the scope, let alone the exclusivity of executive authority, the role of other actors, or what steps local legislative bodies may take outside of the bargaining process to help workers. The Mayor's misplaced reliance on the law's 'definitions' is insufficient to overcome the heavy presumption against preemption."

"Notably, the Mayor, through his press office's statements about this litigation, correctly highlights that the Taylor Law's collective bargaining regime is meant to protect workers, not mayors: he defends collective bargaining as a key tool for workers to 'fight for the workplace they deserve.' The Mayor's framing in the press correctly reflects the structure of the Taylor Law, which helps workers by giving them a right to bargain while burdening public employers with a bargaining requirement. In this lawsuit, though, the Mayor takes a different tack-he tries to turn the Taylor Law's worker-protection rules upside down, into mayor-protection rules. That logical leap finds no support in the Taylor Law's text or history, as detailed above."

"Paraprofessionals are an essential part of our schools, and the Council was proud to stand up for them through the RESPECT Check Act," said Majority Leader Shaun Abreu. "We believe in supporting the workers who show up for our students every day, and we will continue to stand behind this legislation."

"Paraprofessionals are not an extra in our schools; they are essential educators who provide critical support to some of our most vulnerable students," said Majority Whip Kamillah Hanks. "Yet too many are being asked to survive on wages that do not reflect the value or difficulty of their work. I proudly co-sponsored the RESPECT Check Act because retaining experienced paraprofessionals is essential to protecting our students, supporting our classrooms, and strengthening public education across our city."

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