They work as classroom aides and tutors, and also create extracurricular activities.

They say a great deal of special education money would be better spent in regular classrooms, on tutors, classroom aides and staff development.

New York is not alone in hiring classroom aides in large numbers.

In the city, the Education Department already pays for any classroom aide lacking a bachelor's degree to take college classes.

Her school's nine classroom aides work with small groups of students on carefully planned lessons and attend training workshops along with teachers.

They also run school meal programs and hire classroom aides and paraprofessionals.

Jefferson, he said, has lost an assistant principal, seven teachers and four classroom aides even as the enrollment has been rising to 1,832 students.

She told me he needed a classroom aide.

Some classroom aides hired like this were illiterate and unable to fill out the applications, a former board employee said.

And teachers, counselors and classroom aides could be laid off.