Seven years ago, Jefferson Union High School District was losing almost 1 in 4 employees every year, as teachers and other staff headed down the Peninsula to join districts with higher salaries than the small Daly City district could offer. Staff morale was low, students went weeks or months without a permanent teacher, and the teachers who stayed were burning out, spending their prep periods covering other classes.

Oakland was facing its own retention issues, losing 1 in 5 of its teachers each year, who could go a few minutes away to Hayward, Fremont, or San Leandro and earn thousands of dollars more . The city was also facing a housing crisis, with rapidly rising rents and population growth far exceeding the amount of new housing being built. With declining enrollment, the distr

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