Staff and teachers at Orange County Public Schools now have priority move-in access at some affordable housing units in the area.
The school board voted to approve a contract between the district and the apartments on Tuesday.
OCPS employees will be given priority consideration at a combined 20 studio and one-bedroom units at Palm Gardens Orlando Apartments and Colonial Gardens in Orlando.
Orange County Classroom Teachers Association president Clinton McCracken said on the one hand he’s grateful the district is considering solutions to help teachers amidst an affordable housing crisis, but, “it’s only a handful of units, and that's what I would consider putting a band-aid on a deeper issue, and that's teacher pay,” McCracken said.
Teachers in the district were only offered a 1.9% percent raise this school year.
The union pushed back, asking for a 3% raise for teachers, a reduction in paperwork, protections for nursing mothers, paid parental leave, and permanent supplements in pay for veteran and other specialized teachers.
Ultimately, at an impasse meeting between the district and union in October, the school board denied all of these requests, except some protections for nursing mothers. Recently, the board has approved three weeks of paid maternity leave for teachers and staff.
Watch the Orange County School Board meeting where housing was discussed:
McCracken said the low wages have caused a lot of teachers to make tough choices about where they can afford to live, and whether they can continue to pursue teaching as a career.
“It's not a surprise to our community that too many of our teachers are living paycheck to paycheck. They're forced to take in roommates, moving farther away from their schools and their community just to be able to make ends meet,” McCracken said. “There are some bigger things that we can do, which is to prioritize teacher pay and then we don't have to have conversations about affordable housing for teachers.”
McCracken says low teacher pay makes it hard to retain and attract teachers and bus drivers in the district. At last count, OCPS was looking to hire 100 bus drivers and less than 100 instructional positions.
In a statement, the district said, “This is just the first step in proactively responding to the need for affordable housing in our community.”
For its part, the Orange County School Board will consider adding more units to this high-priority list at their next few meetings. These will include two- and three-bedroom affordable housing units. The district will notify OCPS employees about these affordable housing options as well as help facilitate housing applications.
The new agreement does not guarantee district employees housing and applicants must meet all eligibility requirements.
The National Education Association ranks Florida 50th in the nation for teacher pay.
Last week, Governor Ron DeSantis proposed $29.7 billion for K-12 education, which includes $1.5 billion for teacher pay aimed at bumping teacher pay in Florida.
