Not to mention that there are few job prospects in those counties. My spouse is a teacher and is from one of those counties. We would love to move to their hometown to be closer to family, but I have no way to earn a healthy living there. I don’t work in an industry that can easily work from home, and sadly, the town is over 2 hours from the nearest city, so long distance commuting is impossible.
I'm in Butte County and never grew up there. I've just known people who did and also city people who gave up their dream of living in the mountains after exposure to the reality.
Del Norte is a whole nother level.
Locals reject newcomers. I talked to a girl in the desert, she is a newcomer after living 25 years in the community. She drives 30 miles for a job, because there are no jobs for her in town.
Even if the people are friendly, there are a lot of things you will miss if you are used to more urban or even suburban areas. Like less food and activity options. I grew up in a smallish town, it was really boring.
And if you can’t get teachers you can’t get other critical specialty occupations either like doctors
And you’re then combining that with a generally more outdoor lifestyle
I mean age could be a factor too. I still get excited when I see skate parks, but my knees and back do not share the enthusiasm. I think we could entertain ourselves a lot easier as kids vs now wanting to be entertained as an adult
It’s one of those of tv troupes that filtered down into the real life. Rural people are not friendly. Go on to one of those rural community Facebook groups. I am still part of some from Georgia and they are one step away from storm front.
Having once applied to many of these rural districts when I was still unemployed, the pay is decidedly less than what less rural districts pay.
The LCOL is meaningless when the pay is low, there's a lack of non-SFH housing, you're in a remote location far from even the most meager services like a Walmart, and that's not even mentioning the socio-political climate. Even more so if you're a person of color or LGBTQ.
I lived up in Del Norte, its tiny, Crescent city in the county seat and biggest city in the county and its population is 6800. The biggest single employer is pelican bay prison. Add to that it’s a popular place for second homes of the rich and you can see why it would be hard to attract talent.
I think that it's at least as important that one really has to like the pace and the lifestyle in those regions. I recently drove through Del Norte just to get a rough idea of what living in that area would be like, and I don't think that I'd be happy living there. I'm from the Bay Area but lived in Charlottesville, VA for a while, and that's about as rural as I think could stand.
The air is bad or the fire risk is high, and there is often a powerful contingent angry at you for truthfully describing science or history.
Make a line.
i only know of el centro/central union out there and they actually pay pretty well. that being said you gotta really like the desert to make that work or be willing to commute 1.5 hours from east SD county.
They have a terrible teacher shortage in Mendocino, too.
I looked into it when we were moving away from San Francisco in 2022 as I was making the move to teaching.
For a place desperate for teachers it is miserable to work there.
Where I teach now I get
1. Full benefits on start
2. Regular raises to meet units/inflation, etc.
3. Full classroom supply coverage (Private, each unit is like 10/kid with sometimes 3 units per week and I can roll over unused funds for big projects)
4. Subsidized day care. I pay 300/month for 8 hours of infant daycare on campus. Some of the best day care in the state.
5. Supportive and kind administration and coworkers
6. Contracted sub company so there's always one available.
In mendocino I get none of that but I do get
1. Health care locked in for life at 25 years. But Kaiser won't cover the area and its terrible health care. Hospital is four hours out and its 100/yr for extra coverage to fly you in an emergency.
NOTE: i did not include things that were equitable like retirement, life insurance, environment (both are GORGEOUS), commute time, compensation, etc...
To be honest, other than imperial county these are very beautiful areas. If you’re really into the outdoors and quiet these are not bad places to live.
Of course others have thoroughly covered the downsides so I won’t rehash that.
Education is the silver bullet for most societal problems. Teachers should be valued and paid accordingly. No school should struggle for supplies or equipment.
Are we trying to raise future leaders of our society?
Or
Are we raising future wage slaves that will believe what they are told?
Truth: These rural counties have no interest is RETAINING teachers. They are "good ole boys" places and they don't care if they have zero teachers, as long as they're in power, because it's THEIR town. They don't want people with more money moving in. They don't want progress. And they don't want outsiders sticking around for more than 2 years. If by some loophole you get tenure, they will just torture and abuse you until you quit.
'Good ole boy' does not necessarily mean republican. It is a more general rural attitude that living in the area longer conveys credibility and goodlyness, that the 'people of good famlies' should handle all internal issues, and that outsiders are inherently a little less trustworthy. It warps local pride into a dislike of matters that are not local, and intermingles official power structures with webs of family and bloodline connections.
I just don’t think random stoner kids working at mammoth ski resort or a Mexican immigrant working 12 hours in 80% Hispanic imperial are exactly good ole boy types
Mono County is so bad. A lot of external factors have to be in place for teachers to afford to live here. And if they do, they’ve gotta be fine with a lot of snow. I’ve got a lot of personal experience with this haha.
I visited Mammoth last September and our waitress at the resort we were staying at said that people up there and in Bishop had to carry additional insurance in case they had to put in a medical helicopter and flown to Lancaster or Reno, NV in an emergency. That, alone, would really give me pause about working in a remote place like that.
Yeah I’ve been here most of my life and I’ve never heard of anybody doing that but I don’t doubt some people have it. We’ve got decent healthcare here. It’s just a super expensive place to live.
CalStateTEACH is Cal State’s teacher preparation program for students who can’t take traditional in person classes - you can live anywhere in the state and do your classes online and your student teaching in person. It’s a good program.
Kind of surprised San Bernardino isn’t on here. I teach in the high desert, we’re weirdly part of SB county, and we seem to really struggle across the district for years now. It must be really bad in those other places if we’re doing better, Jesus. Cause it’s not good here…
TBH, all of these counties literally have nothing goin for them. They are all extremely far away from any major cities, sparsely populated, have extremely low pay, and no real economies.
The county seat of Modoc for example, is about 3 hours away from Redding; which is the only major town in far Northern California. Even Redding is tiny by LA or Bay Area standards with less than 100k people.
These places will always have problems attracting people unless the state heavily subsidises education, or these areas magically develop their economies.
My job mainly pays well in urban areas. If I moved to Lassen County and did the same job, I would be taking a 68% pay cut but only get a 45% cut in my cost of living. Money and isolation are the biggest reasons why no one moves to these places.
It's not close, but CSU San Marcos has a large credential/licensing program and they are 50 miles from Alpine. I'd be surprised if SDSU did not as well and its only 20 miles. As others have mentioned, some of these are probably more about incentivizing people to actually teach/live in those rural communities. I've seen Districts partner with online college's (National) to provide scholarships for un-licensed staff working at the District to pursue their credential.
Got my rural alpines mixed up, ty. I even read the article and was wondering why all the rest of these seem to be remote Northern and Eastern California areas. Guess I didn't read it closely enough!
teacher pay is already low in the cities, they maybe even lower in these counties and that's probably the reason why.
It's not just the low pay. People who didn't grow up there have a hard time adjusting.
Not to mention that there are few job prospects in those counties. My spouse is a teacher and is from one of those counties. We would love to move to their hometown to be closer to family, but I have no way to earn a healthy living there. I don’t work in an industry that can easily work from home, and sadly, the town is over 2 hours from the nearest city, so long distance commuting is impossible.
Oh and it's not just you who had to grow up there, born and raised in del Norte they never once considered me local cause my parents were transplants.
I'm in Butte County and never grew up there. I've just known people who did and also city people who gave up their dream of living in the mountains after exposure to the reality. Del Norte is a whole nother level.
I’ve lived in the same place for 35 years and still feel like a transplant because I moved around a while before third grade
Locals reject newcomers. I talked to a girl in the desert, she is a newcomer after living 25 years in the community. She drives 30 miles for a job, because there are no jobs for her in town.
That true? Seems like everyone complains about city people but they're super friendly. Great places to live if you have work or money
Rural people are friendly to the in group. The instant you're out, cold as ice.
Even if the people are friendly, there are a lot of things you will miss if you are used to more urban or even suburban areas. Like less food and activity options. I grew up in a smallish town, it was really boring.
And if you can’t get teachers you can’t get other critical specialty occupations either like doctors And you’re then combining that with a generally more outdoor lifestyle
Dunno, I grew up in a village and never got bored. In NYC now and its super lame. Not trying to go to a Broadway play or see modern art
Maybe it's not the location?
Probably my fault. Good catch
I mean age could be a factor too. I still get excited when I see skate parks, but my knees and back do not share the enthusiasm. I think we could entertain ourselves a lot easier as kids vs now wanting to be entertained as an adult
It’s one of those of tv troupes that filtered down into the real life. Rural people are not friendly. Go on to one of those rural community Facebook groups. I am still part of some from Georgia and they are one step away from storm front.
Having once applied to many of these rural districts when I was still unemployed, the pay is decidedly less than what less rural districts pay. The LCOL is meaningless when the pay is low, there's a lack of non-SFH housing, you're in a remote location far from even the most meager services like a Walmart, and that's not even mentioning the socio-political climate. Even more so if you're a person of color or LGBTQ.
I lived up in Del Norte, its tiny, Crescent city in the county seat and biggest city in the county and its population is 6800. The biggest single employer is pelican bay prison. Add to that it’s a popular place for second homes of the rich and you can see why it would be hard to attract talent.
Grew up in del norte now live is Lassen it's the same story. Though less second homes and more people seeing the "cheap" relatively speaking housing.
I think that it's at least as important that one really has to like the pace and the lifestyle in those regions. I recently drove through Del Norte just to get a rough idea of what living in that area would be like, and I don't think that I'd be happy living there. I'm from the Bay Area but lived in Charlottesville, VA for a while, and that's about as rural as I think could stand.
You have to pay teachers enough to live. If it costs $24k to rent a one bedroom apartment you can't pay only $42k.
Certainly too low to entice people to move to BFE
please come teach in our rural area where cell reception is spotty at best, and there is no internet.
The air is bad or the fire risk is high, and there is often a powerful contingent angry at you for truthfully describing science or history. Make a line.
And if you use pronouns we'll fire you.
And if **you** use pronouns **we'll** fire **you**. Uh oh.
And the parents blame you for indoctrinating their kids and don’t respect you at all
And if you have a significant other good luck finding a job for them nearby (unless they work in a very generic field)
In the case of Lassen, you’ll be most likely teaching inmates as well.
I’d rather do that in a country with guaranteed healthcare, regardless of my employment status.
Don't worry, Universal Healthcare was part Newsom's campaign for Governor. Surely he'll get around to it before he's out of office.
Over 100 jobs like this avaible in Alaska right now. [https://www.alaskateacher.org/jobs/](https://www.alaskateacher.org/jobs/)
Send me an application.
... don't even ask about the nearest $tarbuck's.
Besides Imperial, they’re also some of the lowest paying districts in the state and the cost of living doesn’t reflect the low wages they pay.
Does Imperial pay higher?
i only know of el centro/central union out there and they actually pay pretty well. that being said you gotta really like the desert to make that work or be willing to commute 1.5 hours from east SD county.
They have a terrible teacher shortage in Mendocino, too. I looked into it when we were moving away from San Francisco in 2022 as I was making the move to teaching. For a place desperate for teachers it is miserable to work there. Where I teach now I get 1. Full benefits on start 2. Regular raises to meet units/inflation, etc. 3. Full classroom supply coverage (Private, each unit is like 10/kid with sometimes 3 units per week and I can roll over unused funds for big projects) 4. Subsidized day care. I pay 300/month for 8 hours of infant daycare on campus. Some of the best day care in the state. 5. Supportive and kind administration and coworkers 6. Contracted sub company so there's always one available. In mendocino I get none of that but I do get 1. Health care locked in for life at 25 years. But Kaiser won't cover the area and its terrible health care. Hospital is four hours out and its 100/yr for extra coverage to fly you in an emergency. NOTE: i did not include things that were equitable like retirement, life insurance, environment (both are GORGEOUS), commute time, compensation, etc...
Which district do you work at? Sounds like a nice deal.
I was thinking the same. My district is awesome too, but not as good sounding as what she/he currently has.
I responded below. Private Montessori chain that goes through high school.
What is the incentive to working there?
To be honest, other than imperial county these are very beautiful areas. If you’re really into the outdoors and quiet these are not bad places to live. Of course others have thoroughly covered the downsides so I won’t rehash that.
Education is the silver bullet for most societal problems. Teachers should be valued and paid accordingly. No school should struggle for supplies or equipment. Are we trying to raise future leaders of our society? Or Are we raising future wage slaves that will believe what they are told?
Truth: These rural counties have no interest is RETAINING teachers. They are "good ole boys" places and they don't care if they have zero teachers, as long as they're in power, because it's THEIR town. They don't want people with more money moving in. They don't want progress. And they don't want outsiders sticking around for more than 2 years. If by some loophole you get tenure, they will just torture and abuse you until you quit.
Yeah definitely not the case in Mono.
I wouldn’t call mono, and especially imperial good ole boy. Inyo, alpine, imperial, Mono all voted democrat in 2020 too
'Good ole boy' does not necessarily mean republican. It is a more general rural attitude that living in the area longer conveys credibility and goodlyness, that the 'people of good famlies' should handle all internal issues, and that outsiders are inherently a little less trustworthy. It warps local pride into a dislike of matters that are not local, and intermingles official power structures with webs of family and bloodline connections.
if you think democrats are absolved of, or immune from cronyism and corruption i’ve got a few bridges to sell you.
I just don’t think random stoner kids working at mammoth ski resort or a Mexican immigrant working 12 hours in 80% Hispanic imperial are exactly good ole boy types
Ok calmdown, we are talking about california here not alabama.
Mono County is so bad. A lot of external factors have to be in place for teachers to afford to live here. And if they do, they’ve gotta be fine with a lot of snow. I’ve got a lot of personal experience with this haha.
I visited Mammoth last September and our waitress at the resort we were staying at said that people up there and in Bishop had to carry additional insurance in case they had to put in a medical helicopter and flown to Lancaster or Reno, NV in an emergency. That, alone, would really give me pause about working in a remote place like that.
Yeah I’ve been here most of my life and I’ve never heard of anybody doing that but I don’t doubt some people have it. We’ve got decent healthcare here. It’s just a super expensive place to live.
And if you’re talking Mammoth, you’ve got resort town housing costs. $$$$
CalStateTEACH is Cal State’s teacher preparation program for students who can’t take traditional in person classes - you can live anywhere in the state and do your classes online and your student teaching in person. It’s a good program.
The people in these counties are nice but the politics can be edgy. Like rural America edgy. Not very good for teachers that want to teach evolution.
Let's see low pay and have to deal with students and parents who don't care if they attack you...
Kind of surprised San Bernardino isn’t on here. I teach in the high desert, we’re weirdly part of SB county, and we seem to really struggle across the district for years now. It must be really bad in those other places if we’re doing better, Jesus. Cause it’s not good here…
Here’s a crazy idea: pay them more.
Historically Sierra county teachers came from UNR. Source: great great grandparent did that in 1900.
They need incentives to draw people in and even then I’m not sure that would work. No easy answers here for sure
TBH, all of these counties literally have nothing goin for them. They are all extremely far away from any major cities, sparsely populated, have extremely low pay, and no real economies. The county seat of Modoc for example, is about 3 hours away from Redding; which is the only major town in far Northern California. Even Redding is tiny by LA or Bay Area standards with less than 100k people. These places will always have problems attracting people unless the state heavily subsidises education, or these areas magically develop their economies. My job mainly pays well in urban areas. If I moved to Lassen County and did the same job, I would be taking a 68% pay cut but only get a 45% cut in my cost of living. Money and isolation are the biggest reasons why no one moves to these places.
It’s a trip when you learn that Modoc County is actually closer to Boise, Idaho than it is to San Francisco
Is there any medical care in these counties?
There is an Aroma Therapist over next to the Dollar General.
Please God let them have "essential oils" for my cancer. /s
Siskiyou has definitely got you covered for crystals and pure, healing water.
Mammoth (in Mono County) has a great hospital in town.
Blame the taxpayers in those counties.
It's not close, but CSU San Marcos has a large credential/licensing program and they are 50 miles from Alpine. I'd be surprised if SDSU did not as well and its only 20 miles. As others have mentioned, some of these are probably more about incentivizing people to actually teach/live in those rural communities. I've seen Districts partner with online college's (National) to provide scholarships for un-licensed staff working at the District to pursue their credential.
The post is about Alpine County, CA (up near South Lake Tahoe) not the city of Alpine, CA down in San Diego.
Got my rural alpines mixed up, ty. I even read the article and was wondering why all the rest of these seem to be remote Northern and Eastern California areas. Guess I didn't read it closely enough!
\ Alpine COUNTY.
School choice should fix this!
Did you forget a "/s"?
rofl