Housing Benefits
Districts seek options to attract, retain teachers By Mary Ann Lopez
Pecos
W
Fort Stockton ISD purchased the Spanish Trail Lodge to provide additional subsidized housing for teachers in the district. 16
| September/October 2023 | issuu.com/tasb-org
hen Brent Jaco became a superintendent, he knew he’d be overseeing district properties, but he never anticipated that one day he might be a landlord worrying about lockouts, broken stoves, or clogged plumbing. But that’s exactly what happened when the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD school board hired him in July 2020 as the district’s new superintendent. Located in oil and gas rich West Texas, a nearly six-hour drive from the state Capitol, Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD began offering teachers affordable housing in 2016. The housing makes the move to the rural community a bit less stressful for teachers who might struggle with paying high rental rates, which are common in the area, Jaco said. And more importantly, subsidized housing for teachers is proving to be an excellent strategy to attract and retain qualified teachers in an increasingly competitive market. “I am an educator. I got into this to be an educator 20 plus years ago,” Jaco said. “I’m Teachers rent a room at the but not an who apartment manager, Spanish Trail Lodge have the it is one of the necessaryoption pieces toof stay temporarily or having long term. the job. We’re to