The Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) made national news this week after putting out a call to its community, asking for rooms for rent for educators…
In an effort to provide affordable housing options to its teachers, MUSD reached out to parents and others, asking if they could open up rental spaces in their houses. At its August 23 meeting, the school board unanimously approved Resolution 2023.4 In Support of Workforce Housing for Milpitas Unified School District Employees.
At press time, 52 responses have come through.
Said Superintendent Cheryl Jordan in a statement, “This is evidence that our entire MUSD Team, which includes our teachers and classified support staff, is valued by our Milpitas community members, parents and caregivers. This is just one way we, as a district and as a community, are working to recruit, retain and support our amazing MUSD educators who may need assistance in finding a place to call home.”
In a letter to the MUSD community, the district mentioned that it had “lost teachers and staff to other districts because of the cost of living in Santa Clara County and the SF Bay Area.”
According to Transparent California’s pay database, teachers average between $47,000 annually yet can earn more than $120,000. On Zillow, the average home price in Milpitas is listed as $1,439,597.
Along with its rooms for rent outreach, MUSD is exploring accessory dwelling units (ADUs) while also coordinating with agencies such as Landed that help secure home loans for educators and city workers. The district is also in dialogue with potential Milpitas developers about them including workforce housing in their projects.
Said Board Vice President Christopher Norwood in an interview with The Beat, “I feel it’s the first step in our journey of figuring out how we make Milpitas appealing. If we tell people that you can come teach here and we can get you a place that’s reasonable on costs, they can do that, until they can save their money and get their own home.”
If all they can afford is a bedroom, how are they going to save up for a home?
This is beyond embarrassing.
But wait, there’s more! Remember the teacher’s salaries are for 10 months! Diana Orlando, the teachers association president does not even teach a single student this year and gets paid PRE-pension, $133,768 for 10 months!!! That is $160,522 for a full year. Beginning teachers get paid $68K – also for 10 months ($81,600 for 12 months). How’s that for fair? The seasoned teachers don’t look out for the younger generation and the pay in union driven environment is NOT equitable according to my teacher friends. Also, do a public records requests for ALL the stipends that are paid out for every little training and non-negotiated time “above and beyond” their 7:30am-3pm work schedule.
Yes, many do grade homework at home and do extra but now there’s not even homework to grade in some classes. Plus, the principals only get 1 hour a month to provide professional development as any type of training that is beyond the hour a month requires additional payment. Your tax dollars hard at work?!
Here’s the salary info directly from the MUSD website. Of course, it doesn’t include the benefits either. – to which you can tack on another 20%. Mr. Weinstein, they do get the direct health benefits and other benefits that is utilized now, just not the pension which for most non-teacher folks have to contribute to a 401K OUT OF THEIR OWN SALARY which makes their salaries LOWER. https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Pdg7EFnXeTrcD5nTNgICZIyHz0UoM_a/view
My roommate who is a teacher just want to set the record straight. Getting paid 6 figures 7 years out from college isn’t too bad for a 10 month job where teachers get pretty much what they want if someone cries foul! Since there are minimal meetings and little oversight on teacher’s work, it’s a pretty chill and rewarding job but teachers have to pretend that they are constantly doing more work than they actually are to prevent “more” work. BTW, my roommate now saves $3000/mo after all expenses – including summer travel. BTWx2, my roommate is also my life partner and I make even less and just wish I had a teacher’s salary. We are frugal and save around $5000 month and after a bit of saving, will be buying a home IN Milpitas this year. We’re both under 30 and both of our parents are not rich.
My roomie is just a bit pissy when it comes to a part of the salary going to a teacher who is not actually teaching. Taxpayers are getting screwed too on many levels. The 9+ year teachers are ha ha-ing all the way to the bank with their 6 figures while using the housing excuse to get another raise!
@ carlam Who is the right wing troll that thought up your persona? They have a fascinating imagination. So you are supposed to be the blue collar lesbian lover of a Milpitas teacher who wants to buy a house, but hates a the idea of her partner making more money? And your “roomie” is living high on the hog, with her 68k salary travelling the world during the summer when she’s not looking into buying million dollar real estate? Imagine what she could do if Diana Orlando wasn’t taking such a big cut. You’d probably be looking into Yachts. Thankfully you also speak as if you are part of the Howard Jarvis Tax foundation and will speak up for the poor taxpapers
Whoa there Tim. You are sounding like someone who doesn’t like facts. Carla is just saying what their situation is and have laid out how they budget and why their life partner complains about the situation where a teacher gets paid not to teach. I’m assuming it’s the teacher’s union dues. They probably go car camping during the summers and don’t go out to eat much. I’ll go on a limb and say they are not looking at million dollar homes but a $600K townhouse with a $120K ($20K) down payment. The $480K mortgage would be around $3.5K/mo including insurance/tax/HOA. Even if they saved at half the rate ($2500/mo), it would be 4 years of savings. Then, like most of those who have homes, they traded up as their financial situation changed. Not sure about Milpitas teachers but some of my teacher friends do complain about the pay disparity of experienced and new teachers. They just say the old teachers want their retirement to be high. Who also may get left out are all the service workers in the district who probably gets paid way less. The schools would not run without them.
@nandy or @ carla or @whoeveryouarecallingyourself this post, thank you for doing the math and fleshing out the details of Carla’s imaginary finances and her imaginary summer camping trips. :). it totally seems less fake now. It now makes perfect sense that someone in a family unit with a new teacher looking to buy a home, to post publicly and passionately about opposing a raise for her partner. Especially when they are looking into going to make the biggest financial investment of their lives. Who doesn’t like to torpedo their own financial interests and future?
@tim, the posts might be fake to you but the numbers are real. I’m a 10-plus year veteran here at MUSD and many teachers have been complaining about the gap between younger and senior teachers. Want a dose of truth and add some insider cred? Our own union, MTA, wants us to spy and tell on principals who go even a minute over meetings which is super unprofessional. I bet none of my union people will come forward and defend it – because it is true. I have financially been ok but it’s been downhill professionally. Our school has lost 2 teachers to lower paying districts due to unprofessionalism from the top – from both the district office and union leadership. We get tortured to death with socio-emotional learning and social justice stuff while what the teachers need is better professional development around teaching better. We’ve shared this sentiment with insiders and they tell us that’s what the executive directors from the DO want them to do 🙁 Sorry to rant here rather than on Milpitas rants. Just like my colleagues, if I leave, it will not be due to pay – though more pay is always nice.
These fake posts are infuriating. Why are these trolls from outside milpitas coming here to harm the teachers who care for our children? Why is the Beat publishing the hit-piece opinion of some anti-Teacher organization from southern california?
Doing some math if a teacher is working 186 days as stated on their salary sheet:
$68,000 is $366 per day BEFORE benefits for a new teacher
$133,768 is $719 per day BEFORE benefits for an experienced teacher
I didn’t know those were the teacher rates and didn’t know about the hidden benefits. There are no stock options for sure but I imagine public sector employees can’t get fired randomly and if the company crashes, they don’t lose all the stock options and their jobs too. Even after tax, they’re doing ok.
Two comments. One, if you can’t make housing work with those numbers, I don’t want you teaching my children. Two, why is there such a large gap between a new and experienced teacher? Don’t all teachers work just as hard? You can pay the new teachers much more, just balance the pay.
Thank you for the numbers, Tim and being ovjective. You’re right, teachers should get paid more but the gap shouldn’t be that wide.
$133k and not even teach? Why is that person getting an experienced teacher’s salary but not teaching? Something is seriously wrong.