“In the past couple of years, we have lost teachers due to not being able to find affordable housing,” said Ronan Superintendent Mark Johnston.

He added that new teachers in Ronan are paid $43,314 or about $3,600 a month. Rentals in the Ronan area range from $1,000 to $1,500 a month, leaving from $1,500 to $1,800 to buy food, pay student loans, car payments, and other living expenses. That’s not a lot left over. 

As savvy school board members and administrators, the Ronan crew knows that if teachers live in the community they’re more apt to stay here.

“We know,” Johnston said, “that if someone is commuting from Missoula or even Polson, the employee will try to get a job in those towns. Just last year, we lost two teachers because they ended up getting a  job in the town they were living in.”

So Johnston thought about eastern Montana, where he  grew up. Many small towns in that sparsely populated part of the state have to provide housing to attract teachers. He thought the same strategy could work for the Ronan/Pablo District. 

“It worked out east, and it could work here,” he thought.

As an administrator, he knew that the Ronan/Pablo School District had received federal  Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief dollars, as did other districts around the state. Those funds included $1.5 million to address the learning loss due to COVID, and another $5.8 million in base funds, which allowed the district to improve technology in the schools, roofs, flooring, and HVAC systems.  

With about $1 million in ESSER funds left that needed to be spent this year, the administrative team and school board decided to implement Johnston’s idea to build teacherages to “hopefully entice and retain good new teachers.”

A group called Proactive Learning is already building housing for individuals with autism on the west side of Ronan. Johnston talked with them about acquiring some land, and they agreed to sell.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Johnston said. “ Proactive Learning received some capital, and we received land that would work great for teacher housing.”  

Sandra Beal, the Ronan/Pablo District Curriculum, Grants, and Federal Programs Director, worked very hard to get permission for the project from the Montana Office of Public Instruction because no other schools were doing this sort of project. Permission was obtained. 

“At this time, we’re building two, two-bedroom duplexes,” Johnston said. 

“We want to rent them out affordably,” he added. Under restrictions approved by the board, the housing won’t be permanent. Teacher residents will be given four years to figure out where they want to live, “and if Ronan/Pablo School District was a good fit for them and vice versa.”

 “Hopefully we can recruit teachers, retain them, and have it on a four-year cycle,” Johnston explained

Construction is going well, with completion slated for this fall. “We just have to order appliances and flooring. The sheetrockers have been in there. Once they start doing the fine stuff, like the cabinets, it goes pretty fast.”

Local contractors Harding Excavation and builder Bumper Thingelstad were hired for the project.

“We did go out for a bid, and a local guy got it,”  Johnston said.

Now the district is deciding how much rent to charge. The district will pay the water “because we want the grass to look nice,” garbage fees, and the internet cost. The renters will pay the electricity and whatever TV they select. 

“We’re giving our teachers a decent, nice house at an affordable price,” Johnston said of the innovative project. “I’m really excited about this.”