A teacher who launched a GoFundMe to help him afford a place to live has put a spotlight on teacher salaries as the new school year begins.
Bill Atkinson, a fourth grade teacher in Austin, Texas, said he began living in his car this summer when his previous living situation fell through and he could not afford rent on his $54,000 annual salary.
“No matter how much I borrowed or scraped, there was no catching up, because I just did not make enough to cover rent – because I was so used to living paycheck to paycheck, I didn’t have anything in savings to try to cover rent for a couple months,” he told “Good Morning America.” “So I tried to get a place, [but I] was having a hard time finding a place I could afford on my own.”
I’ve seen some places basically wanting to revamp company town aspects by having teachers living on school grounds. Which would be terrible. Teachers deserve better pay.
Housing as a job benefit is terrible because it ties you even more closely to your employer - same problem as with employer-provided health insurance. Even a housing allowance is shit because it turns money that could be spent on anything into money that can only be spent on one particular thing - same problem as gift cards.
As the owner of a skoolie (used school bus converted into a motorhome) one benefit I’d like to see would be employer-provided parking spots for motorhomes. You wouldn’t lose your house if you quit your job (just your parking spot for it) and you would actually be able to live legally in your motorhome, something that is possible almost nowhere in the US and certainly not in any urban area that people actually want to live in. Some airlines actually allow their flight attendants to park and live in motorhomes on lots at major airports (NYC is one place for this, or at least it was recently), and some rural places provide motorhome parking for traveling nurses who sign contracts to work there for 9 months or however long.