Some states raise teacher pay amid pandemic shortage, but can they retain the educators?

Jamie Torres spent the first three years of her teaching career “practically being homeless.” Her starting salary of $38,000 in 2018 wasn’t enough to afford rent in the neighborhoods near where she taught in Sante Fe, New Mexico, so she bunked with family members for months at a time or stayed with friends.

“I tried looking around everywhere for a house. The lowest place I could find for even a studio here in Santa Fe at that time was roughly around like $1,300,” she said. “So, on a first-year teaching salary, it was literally impossible for me as a single adult to afford rent in Santa Fe.”

Torres, a special education teacher, is one of hundreds of educators across Sante Fe whose paycheck will get a boost this year after New Mexico legislators voted to increase teacher pay. Her salary will climb 20 percent, from $50,000 to $60,000, she said, calling the increase “definitely a really good first step.”

Read more from NBC News.

Matt Zalaznick
Matt Zalaznick
Matt Zalaznick is a life-long journalist. Prior to writing for District Administration he worked in daily news all over the country, from the NYC suburbs to the Rocky Mountains, Silicon Valley and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He's also in a band.

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