Isn’t supply and demand the right solution here? Low pay means less people want to be teachers or change careers. Then there is a teacher supply crisis, and pay has to go up to deal with that. Since you can’t force people to do the job if they think it is not worth doing, can’t we reach an equilibrium?
And if teacher shortages persist without pay being touched, isn’t that to be expected?
Supply and demand OF HOUSING, yes. Increasing the pay of Teachers, then Nurses, then Fire Fighters, then ... by (say) 2X - because housing is too expensive for them - does not create any new housing. Though it may bid up the prices on the least-expensive existing housing, putting yet more essential professions on the "2X" list. And quite a few other undesirable side-effects.
As long as they are on an equal footing with everyone else, then either more housing is built or there is a generic housing crisis unrelated to being a teacher status, and the problem we should be talking about is something else.
either would work. If you pay teachers enough, they would commute several hours if needed. If you pay everyone more, either the housing gets built or people leave because you cant pay everyone enough to keep jobs filled.
The problem is that the pay is artificially suppressed. The school is not able to increase pay because the government will not give them the money. So they either sell all their equipment to try and fund it or lose all the teachers.
But isn’t this just a “water is wet” article then? Yes, if slavery isn’t an option, people are either paid well enough that they don’t walk, or they walk.
And if teacher shortages persist without pay being touched, isn’t that to be expected?