'We Can't Afford Rent': US Teachers Grapple with A Growing Housing Crisis

- 'US teachers grapple with a growing housing crisis: ‘We can’t afford rent,’ The Guardian, March 2, 2023. - Ed. Educators are struggling with pay disparities & a widening housing & cost-of-living crisis.

“Educators are educating astronauts, physicists, doctors, lawyers, construction workers, plumbers, electricians,” However, 2 and 3 and 4 degrees are not making enough or more than all of the professions that I brought forward.”

In her 1st year as a student teacher, Gina Gray also delivered groceries for Instacart. She was driven to give back to the city that raised her, but also needed help with the bills & rent. Now Gray, a Black English teacher at Middle College high school in Los Angeles, takes on additional work in the district such as teaching summer & Saturday schooling & commutes one hour each day from her rental in Norwalk-La Mirada, a district near LA. “A new teacher with a starting salary in [LA unified school district] can’t afford rent,” Gray says.

“That’s just the facts of it. When you come in, to know that you can’t afford to live on your own, that’s a huge reason why you would choose another career. We’re not even talking about home ownership. We’re just talking about comfortable rental accommodation.”

In Calif. & across the country, teachers are navigating a difficult terrain: making enough money to afford living in the districts where they serve. Research by the Economic Policy Institute’s Sylvia Allegretto found that public school teachers nationally make nearly 24% less in weekly earnings than similarly credentialed college graduates in other fields. When benefits such as healthcare were taken into account, the total compensation penalty was 14%, the widest gap since 1979. The so-called “wage penalty” makes it increasingly difficult for teachers to live in the same communities as their students, forcing them to commute extensive distances to & from school, renting rooms from parents, taking on 2nd jobs & living in school district-operated housing.

“Educators are educating astronauts, physicists, doctors, lawyers, construction workers, plumbers, electricians,” says Cecily Myart-Cruz, the pres. of United Teachers LA (UTLA). “However, educators who have 2 & 3 & 4 degrees are not making enough or more than all of the professions that I brought forward.” In Dec., UTLA proposed a 20% raise on salaries over the next 2 yrs., & other demands like smaller class sizes. In LA, a teacher in their 1st year makes nearly $49,000 whereas the average apt. rental ranges between $2,247 & $3,826, meaning that they would pay at least half their salary in rent each yr. Recent negotiations between teachers unions & school districts in Chicago, LA & elsewhere have increasingly centered on compelling districts to address housing affordability challenges their employees face beyond raising salaries & bolstering benefits...https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/02/us-teachers-california-salary-disparities