New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is opposing a $10,000 bonus for paraprofessional educational support staff in the city’s public schools, reversing his campaign pledge to support the measure. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the Queens borough of New York on Friday, July 31, 2026. Public school paraprofessionals are among the lowest paid and most exploited sections of the working class in New York. The unanimous City Council vote indicates that even if Mamdani vetoes the bonus bill, the Council will override his veto. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said that if Mamdani blocked the bonus bill, it would be “all-out war.”