Giving Compass' Take:

• As teacher salaries continue to drop there are steps that policymakers and schools can take to ensure that teachers can afford to make ends meet. 

• What versions of these ideas would work in your community? How can national policy support these types of programs without being overly prescriptive? 

• Learn more about declining teacher pay. 

Reducing the student-loan debt that burdens many teachers after going to graduate school: At the Rainbolt College of Education, where I serve as dean, we have a program called Debt-Free Teachers. It’s a simple concept: you graduate from the College of Education, you become a teacher in a high-need area in Oklahoma, and we’ll forgive up to $5,000 of your higher-ed investment each year for four years (and up to $20,000).

Assisting teachers with housing: We have a pilot program at the College in which 17 students are participating in a United Way financial boot camp. When they graduate, and as long they have a 660 credit score, they qualify for the Oklahoma Housing Finance Authorities Dream Home Act. They’re eligible to buy a house that costs up to $250,000, and they’re required to put down only a 3 to 5 percent down payment.

Community schools: If a kid’s basic needs are not being met, how can you can address their academic needs? What if we thought about schools as a hub that connected professionals to the kids, instead of it being the responsibility of the kid or the family to find those people in their communities? We have a study now where 36 community schools in the Tulsa area are doing this. It’s early on in the research, but we’ve seen some really amazing outcomes. Teacher satisfaction has risen, because teachers actually get to teach — they don’t have to be the parent, the physician and the social worker.

Read the full article about supporting teachers by Gregg Garn at TED-Ed.