“Education officials of Monroe County are showing much interest in the new movement for establishing so-called teacherages – cottages for country school teachers – which is spreading rapidly in several Far-Western States.” (Boston Evening Transcript, July 12, 1916)

In an interview with CNN, Prescott Unified Assistant Superintendent Clark Tenney said that “most of the teacherages we’re familiar with are in very rural parts of Arizona, where there simply is not housing available.” 

“That’s not the case in Prescott,” he said. “There are lots of homes, but with our median home price being over $600,000 that prices teachers completely out of the market.”

Now, partially prompted by a cocktail of inflated home values, unregulated vacation rentals, volatile construction costs and zoning hurdles, teacherages are on the table for Arizona cities. Renting a home from an employer isn’t necessarily the ideal solution for either party, but alternatives are scarce, especially in vacation destinations like Page or Sedona. School districts are adding “landlord” to their long list of responsibilities.

In Arizona, county school superintendents have a wide range of responsibilities. They coordinate with state departments as well as schools and libraries in the district they were elected to serve. Add securing housing for teachers and school staff to the list. They also team with other counties to achieve common goals.

As a case in point, Cheryl Mango-Paget, Coconino County superintendent of schools, joined forces with Yavapai County Superintendent of Schools Tim Carter. Together, the two veteran administrators secured funds to make a dent in the teacher housing crisis.

“A small dent,” Mango-Paget said.

Together, Mango-Paget and Carter collaborated on securing six grants.

“Fredonia has been funded,” said Mango-Paget.

“Parks, which is Maine Consolidated, has been funded in Coconino County. Page has been. Tuba has been funded. Fredonia's is building a brand-new home, but it’s going to be built with apartments inside it. Parks – they have school facilities, fund money. Their buildings were built in the 1800s, and so they’re doing a complete campus renovation. What used to be the old music building is being redone to be teacherage. So it’s going to be right smack in the middle of their campus.”

Tuba City schools provide housing for some teachers, including teachers residing in Flagstaff who stay in Tuba City four days a week to teach.

“They’re building housing in that area where they already have housing for teachers and they’re upgrading some of their housing for teachers,” Mango-Paget said.

Grand Canyon Unified School District is utilizing two existing utility pads, originally used for trailers, as a foundation for modular homes.

Chino Valley Unified School District recently built 10 one-bedroom tiny homes, each with a full kitchen and laundry room. Teachers can rent the 400 sq. ft. homes for $550 per month. The district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in September.

Page City Council approved zoning modifications to convert a 3,200 sq. ft. commercial building into a four-unit multifamily apartment complex in June. Page Unified School District was to purchase the property. 

“I believe they finalized the purchase of the property,” Mango-Paget said. “They may have used some of our funds to purchase the property, but it would be purchased under Page Unified School District. One of the things we had in our application is that the district had to own the land.”

Completion of the Page apartments is expected by next fall.

Some of the school districts proposed setting aside a portion of rent collected from teachers. The money would go toward a down payment on a home. The idea is to integrate teachers with the community and encourage long-term employment. 

“Part of the grant application was that you would have a sustainability plan,” Mango-Paget said.

“And so how are you going to keep this? Because the whole purpose behind doing future housing is to have people that are locals and can live there and not have to have five jobs or at the age of 30, still have four roommates. Because we have a teacher retention problem here in Arizona, and we have a very [bad] problem in Coconino County. The premise behind this grant, the only reason that Tim [Carter] and I wanted to even get into construction, which is a pain, is that we have a very, very high teacher attrition rate, and we also have a teacher's pay gap that is the second largest in the nation, and that is only surpassed by Colorado. 

“We are losing teachers, and so we framed the grant that this would support teacher retention, which would then also support student success and outcomes. So, like in Page, you guys have, and our other communities do, too, a large amount of, I think, J1 Visa teachers. And those teachers, they don't get to stay. They leave every two to three years because they have to go back. Their visa runs out. Not having that coherence and investing all that time and money and training – and then you start all over again.

“So it’s to get local teachers, to get people to want to become locals, to stay. And then, if they stay, then the district has an investment in them at five to seven years is when teachers really kick into high gear. They've got enough years under their belt, but we’re losing them right before that. And so we’re continually starting with fresh teachers in Arizona.”

This is Part One of the Housing Solutions series. Next week, Lake Powell Chronicle will cover another idea borrowed from the past: mixed-use zoning.

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