Six forty-five a.m. That’s how early Palo Alto High School Automotive Technology teacher and Paly golf coach Doyle Knight arrives at Paly each morning.

“I’m also teaching zero period PE this year,” he said. “So it [arriving early] kind of gets me ready for that.”

Knight lives around 26 miles from Paly, but traffic can make his commute much longer.

Knight isn’t the only teacher living far from Paly. Palo Alto is an expensive place to live. The average home price in Palo Alto of $3.53 million, nearly 10 times the national average of $360,000 according to Zillow, makes it unaffordable for many teachers and staff.

A PAUSD teacher makes anywhere between $91,000 to $172,000 per year. That means the average teacher earns about 1/23 of the typical Palo Alto home price per year.

The Palo Alto Educator’s Association is currently in negotiations with PAUSD. According to PAEA President Tom Culbertson, educators are asking for better benefits and working conditions, as well as increased salaries.

Salaries in PAUSD are dependent on experience and education. The longer a teacher has been working or the longer they continue their education after a bachelor’s degree, the higher their salary. As of this year, the average teacher salary in the Palo Alto Unified School District is $103,702, according to Indeed, but PAEA President Tom Culberston said PAUSD has not kept salaries in line with housing prices over the years.

“We’ve lost ground over the last 10 years and over the last 20 years, which means the quality of places that teachers can live in is eroding,” Culberston said. “The distance for commuting has increased. The possibilities that for educators to be able to purchase a home, it is becoming basically out of reach.”

Culbertson said this unaffordability can be alleviated through increasing their salaries.

“We’re asking for compensation and benefits that are competitive with other districts, and so obviously part of that’s going to involve investing in educators,” Culbertson said. “There’s tons of other programs that I’m sure could use more support with that money as well.”

During the Feb. 10 school board meeting, the school district reversed its previous decision to cut some staff positions for the upcoming school year. Many teachers and staff attended the board meeting to speak out against that policy.

At the board meeting, “Members rose up and said, ‘we think these changes are a bad idea,’” Culbertson said. “And we mobilized in ways that we’ve never mobilized before, and we achieved something that was a great partnership between educators.”

Out of PAUSD’s annual budget of $350 million dollars, 30% of that money is in reserves, according to Culbertson. Community tax dollars are also a factor.

Paly Economics teacher Grant Blackburn used to live in Santa Clara but has moved to East Palo Alto. Since moving closer to Palo Alto, he has gained more free time throughout the week.

“I’ve changed that [Santa Clara commute] to a 10-minute commute each way every day, and it’s life changing,” he said. “So I got at least an hour of my life back.”

For teachers new to the district, living in Palo Alto to minimize commute time is even more out of reach. According to the PAUSD teachers’ 2024-25 schedule, teachers in their first year of teaching make $91,546 on a bachelor’s degree.

In Mountain View, new teachers make $81,726 according to the Mountain View Whisman School District 2024-25 salary schedule. Though their starting salary may seem lower, Mountain View’s average housing market has an average of $1.99 million, almost half of Palo Alto’s.

This means newer teachers don’t have an incentive to come work in the Palo Alto district. They could settle down in another city where they could afford to live closer to school. According to Niche, PAUSD is ranked the fourth best school district in California. But Palo Alto’s unaffordability can cause teachers who contribute to that ranking to move elsewhere.

Palo Alto housing developers have started fixing the affordability issue. According to Palo Alto Online, a new teacher housing project is under construction. The 55 units will be available for low to moderate income teachers and staff of the PAEA and California School Employees Association. This development has studios and one-bedroom apartments. However, Blackburn said this development may not be a solution for families.

“When I was younger, I would move into that place, no problem,” Blackburn said. “You’re asking that question of me now, as an older person, having lived in a condo for 17 years… I don’t think I would do that now. Everybody’s lifestyle choices are going to probably depend on where they are in life.”

Living farther away can be detrimental to students as well.

“Those stresses can be seen if you ask educators,” Culbertson said. “It affects classroom situations. It affects educators’ ability to do extra things for students, and that’s why we’re really fighting for this right now.”

Knight has had that experience, saying that being late means he feels less put together.

“I feel rushed and I don’t feel very organized,” he said.

Blackburn agreed that PAUSD needs to invest in teacher salaries.

“We [PAUSD] have a ridiculous amount of money, and we are in Palo Alto, where living expenses are really high,” Blackburn said. “We can definitely afford to do so [invest in teacher salaries], it’s a choice that they’ve decided to not invest in their teachers, and that makes things difficult.”