One model that could be considered is trying to attract late career teachers interested in helping out and padding their retirement accounts. In Massachusetts, teachers who began their careers by twenty five are often able to retire with a full pension in their late 50s. They could sell, if they own one, their relatively expensive Massachusetts house and buy a much cheaper one elsewhere. These teachers then could teach for five to ten years in a rural area. They would collect their pension plus their new salary. In addition, if they were highly experienced, they could mentor younger teachers in their new district.

The two major challenges would be attracting seasoned veterans to rural areas and those places being willing to pay more for a late career teacher as opposed to hiring a much cheaper teacher who just graduated.

Thank you for writing this important piece.