The Tucson Unified School District is trying to help a few Southwest Side schools that have a hard time retaining strong educators — by getting some of their teachers into nearby homes.
Teach Within Reach, the district's first home-buying assistance program, will rely on $46,000 in grants from the city's Housing Trust Fund, which will provide eight employees with up to $5,000 for a first-time home purchase.
To qualify, employees must make 80 to 100 percent of the median earnings for Tucson. A single employee would be capped at $38,500, a family of two at $44,000 and a family of four at $55,000.
The district will partner with two non-profits to work out credit and income eligibility, and will provide classes in long-term financial planning.
Richard Foster, the district's recruiter, said the program will be used to keep existing teachers, instead of as an incentive to lure new ones to the area.
"We're going to be strategic in how we use this opportunity," he said. "We believe that if we can help employees get closer to work, by helping them purchase reasonably priced homes in the Southwest quadrant, we'll have a better chance at keeping them in those schools." read more
No comments:
Post a Comment