FROM THE TEACHERS WHO ARE TASKED with educating a community’s children to the bus drivers who are responsible for safely transporting children to and from school, school employees are essential elements of every community across the country. Finding affordable housing near their workplaces remains a struggle for many of these school workers, who earn modest incomes despite the fact that the economy has been in recovery for several years. This edition of Paycheck to Paycheck focuses on the affordability challenges faced by both teachers and non-instructional school workers by highlighting five of the 81 occupations in the Paycheck to Paycheck database: bus driver, child care teacher, groundskeeper, social worker and high school teacher.1 As for any other sector of the economy, the ability of school workers to live near their places of employment is an important aspect of developing strong, inclusive communities. Communities that have high housing costs (and lack programs to offset those costs) can struggle to retain the staff that works to create a safe and supportive environment. Read the full article