Centennial High McCauley, my paternal grandmother, was not an education reformer. She didn’t have a strategic plan, a foundation grant or a big honking 10-point policy brief.
What she did have was a furnished, clean duplex in a neighborhood within walking distance of the two public schools in our dusty outpost of a town. And she rented it to new teachers for a song every year, providing community and housing and a moment to exhale for fresh graduates who found themselves in a strange place. For $35 a week (or whatever they could swing) these educators got a place to live, a hot dinner and access to a freshly baked slice of pound cake with astonishing regularity.
I thought of the power of Big Mama’s duplex the other day when I read that Battle Creek was developing a plan to offer rent-free housing as a way to recruit and retain new workers in one of the most critically understaffed and underpaid professions in America.
It’s a wonderful approach.
Modeled after a pioneering effort in New Haven, Conn., the program known as “First Teacher, First Home” offers housing as a benefit, helping educators overcome one of the biggest obstacles to entering and remaining in the field: affordability. Connecticut also combines rent-free housing with a pathway to eventual home ownership.
Michigan’s early childhood education workers earn $15 an hour. In America half of early learning workers make above $14 and half below. At the same time, housing is not getting cheaper, forcing talented people to leave an undervalued profession. The result is institutional early learning instability that has the makings of a long-term crisis.
Key child development indicators underscore the need for effective and consistent early learning education. Strive Together, a national cradle-to-career education and economic improvement with affiliates in Grand Rapids and Flint, says 90% of a child’s brain development happens before age 5. Children who arrive at kindergarten ready to learn do better in every indicator of life success. Good early learning educators allow parents to exhale when they leave their little ones for the day.
Yet we continue to treat people doing this work as an afterthought.
Battle Creek’s approach asks a simple question: What if we compensate teachers differently? Not necessarily with higher salaries alone, but with something equally valuable — like housing. In Battle Creek, this approach equates to a $12,000-$13,000 bonus right off the bat.
More: Making rent was like a ‘pit in my chest’ for this teacher, now it’s free
The idea is not as radical as it may sound to some.
For much of modern American history, employers understood that housing was part of economic development. Factory towns built neighborhoods for workers. Hospitals created residences for nurses. Universities housed faculty. Communities recognized that if you wanted to attract the best workers possible, you had to make it possible for them to live where they work.
While today’s knowledge-based workforce can work remotely, the work of early childhood education is tactile, so taking the stress of finding housing off the table can help everyone right now.
Battle Creek joins a handful of other communities who are experimenting with housing incentives, but the concept remains surprisingly rare. It should not be rare. That makes it all the more impressive that the city famous for introducing Corn Flakes to the world is leading Michigan in a new way to improve the community.
Everyone wins.
Teachers gain a measure of financial stability. Theoretically, employers gain a happier and more reliable workforce. Children gain consistency in the classroom, which leads to long-term success. And finally, communities gain neighbors who are invested in their well-being.
Big Mama understood that without ever attending a conference or publishing a white paper. She knew that if you took care of teachers, teachers would take care of their children.
Battle Creek’s leaders seem to understand that, too. Sometimes the best solutions are not all that new. Sometimes that looks like what Big Mama was doing all those years ago in a flower-patterned house dress: holding space for a new teacher in a new town finding her way — made better by a warm slice of pound cake at the end of a long day.
Byron McCauley is a regional columnist for USA Today Co. Email: bmccauley@usatodayco.com. Phone: (513) 504-8915.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Free housing for teachers builds solid community | Opinion
Reporting by Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
