High-quality education is a shared priority across Marin County. Our local schools are among the best in the state and Marin has one of the highest concentrations of top-ranked public schools. Yet, the high cost of housing is creating challenges for students and families, educators, and school districts alike.
We sat down with Tracy Smith, superintendent of the Novato Unified School District (NUSD), where 46% of teachers and school district staff polled this year said that the high cost of housing in Marin County and long commutes when they can’t live here have caused them to consider leaving the district.
“It’s just exhausting. Like to be in the car that long, it’s almost three hours every day, and it just takes away from family time,” shared Michelle Gassner on her last day of work at NUSD. She got teary as she explained that she wanted to stay, but after five years of commuting from Napa to Novato, she needed to work closer to home.
And she’s not alone. 36% of NUSD staff polled spends at least thirty minutes in the car each way commuting to and from work. Novato Unified School District recently launched an Education Workforce Housing initiative. The goal? NUSD wants to explore ways it can address the housing needs of staff because they’re committed to retaining, attracting, and employing exceptional talent. They realize the need to prioritize affordable housing.
“Affordable housing for teachers and staff allows people to live and work in their community,” noted Smith. “And living and working in their community creates connectedness to their students, helping all students feel supported.”
How much does this matter? Smith explains why affordable housing is the key to unlocking a student’s potential:
“Our students that are housing insecure tend to miss more school, are considered chronically absent, get less education, less time in school, less time with their teachers and they are really focused less on learning and more on survival. And so being able to provide as a community more affordable housing for our families will only improve the outcomes for students in their learning and in their social and emotional well-being.”
Supporting students means supporting teachers and affordable housing is the number one issue Marinites want our government to address. The high cost of housing’s negative impact on education is one of the many reasons we cannot afford to wait.
In solidarity,
Chandra Alexandre
Chief Executive Officer
P.S. Housing For All Marin is advocating for more affordable housing in Marin. Join us!