Education Support Professionals:
Making a Difference for Kids and Public Schools

Who are MNEA ESP?
Education support professionals can be found in nine main job categories:

Making the most of your career
As an educational support professional, you are a key player on the education team that prepares Missouri’s children for the future. Without you, kids wouldn’t get extra help and attention, the bell wouldn’t ring, the buses wouldn’t run, the budgets wouldn’t get finalized, the phones wouldn’t get answered, nutritious meals wouldn’t be served and classrooms wouldn’t be safe and clean. Without you, education wouldn’t happen.

But these days it’s getting harder and harder to do your job. School budgets are stretched to the breaking point, and you’re expected to do more with less. Your Association knows what you’re up against and keeps you connected to your profession, to your peers and to your community.

The MNEA/NEA ESP Advantage
Visit us at www.nea.org/esp.

Association members can take advantage of new tools and services available on the Internet simply by visiting the ESP Web site. There you’ll find the latest information on everything from IDEA regulations to tips on how to prepare for an evaluation—in short, information, publications and resources you can’t get anywhere else!

Help When You Need It Most
Association membership helps you gain more respect by connecting you with the help and resources you need to do your job.

• Tough and effective representation in grievances
• Help in winning better pay, working conditions, job safety and health benefits
• Top-notch research and assistance to help your negotiations team bargain the very best possible salaries and working conditions
• Leadership training
• Support from MNEA professional staff, helping you and your local association help yourselves
• Liability insurance protection ($2 million coverage on the job comes with membership.)
• The respect that comes with the support and backing of the largest, most effective union in the country, the union made up entirely of education employees
• Publications specially geared to give you the information you want and need
• Lobbying for increased school budgets to get you the training and support you need, as well as the job security, retirement benefits and protection you deserve
• Expert legal assistance and liability protection in job-related problems
• Workshops and access to professional development opportunities
• Your very own Web site with valuable online resources
• A free e-mail news service linking you to colleagues across the state and nation
• A voice in Association decision making and representation on committees;
  Vicki Thurston (vthirsty@hotmail.com) and Linda Callahan (lcall102@yahoo.com) represent education support professionals across the state.
• Money-saving discounts and personal finance advice to help stretch your pay check

In Touch with Your Profession
The Association’s Internet services for ESP members also includes an ever-growing electronic mail service that keeps you in daily contact with your colleagues across the state and across the nation. Subscribers to this free service can learn what’s happening in their profession as it happens, whether the story is a landmark ESP victory in Vermont or how a group of ESP members in North Carolina are making a difference.