San Diego Unified's Solving the Housing Crisis for Their Educators
Schoolutions: Curious Educators. Evidence-Based Strategies. Classrooms Where Every Child Thrives.
04/01/26
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In this short, a visionary superintendent, Fabi Bagula, Ph.D., breaks down a bold, innovative approach to teacher retention and the housing crisis: repurposing district-owned land to develop affordable housing for employees, complete with on-site daycare and trade apprenticeships for students entering the workforce.
This is what school leadership done right looks like: tackling the real barriers to teacher retention, strengthening school culture, and driving education transformation from the top down.
If you're a school administrator, instructional leader, or anyone passionate about school improvement and education leadership, this will inspire you to think bigger about what's possible.
✅ No taxpayer funds used
✅ Affordable housing for educators
✅ Built-in daycare for staff
✅ Student apprenticeships in the trades
This is the future of school districts. Are you ready?
👇 Save this. Watch, reflect, and share Part 1 & Part 2 of our Schoolutions S5E31 interview with your team.
📌 Subscribe for more tools for empowered educators, teacher mentors, school counselors, instructional leaders, and anyone committed to thriving students and school change.
📚 Chapters
0:00– Intro: The Educator Housing Problem
0:08 – The Bold Idea: Using District Land
0:22 – No Taxpayer Money — Here's the Model
0:38 – Developer Proposals & Affordable Housing
0:50 – Adding Daycare for Educators
1:02 – Student Apprenticeships in the Trades
📧 Connect with me if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Don't forget to🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE with fellow educators!
#Schoolutions #SchoolutionsPodcast #ForeverGettingBetter #CuriosityDriven #EvidenceBased #SchoolLeadership #EducationLeadership #TeacherHousing #AffordableHousing #EducatorRetention #SchoolImprovement #PrincipalStrategies #EmpoweredEducators #EducationTransformation #SchoolCulture #InstructionalLeadership #ProfessionalDevelopment #SchoolAdministrators #TeacherSupport #SchoolChange #SanDiegoSchools #TeacherRetention #StudentApprenticeships #DistrictLeadership #InnovativeLeadership
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Previous Episode
In part one of my S5E31 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Dr. Fabi Bagula, Superintendent of San Diego Unified School District, discusses her authentic approach to leadership and its impact on education. She shares insights into critical teacher retention issues and the innovative, affordable housing solutions her team is implementing in San Diego, California. Fabi's commitment to equity and school improvement strategies is evident as she addresses the challenges and triumphs of leading with an open heart.
Fabi also speaks to why she refuses to call it an "achievement gap" (it's a support gap) and how she's avoided hardening in response to public criticism. This episode is essential listening for school administrators, instructional leaders, new teachers, teacher mentors, instructional coaches, families, and anyone invested in school improvement and education transformation.
Some Episode Mentions:
➡️Otto Scharmer, author of Presencing
➡️Marshall Elementary School
➡️Yale Broad Leadership Fellowship
➡️Monday 02/26 & Tuesday 02/27 board meetings, when they chose the final proposals for more information
📌 Part 2 drops Friday, where Fabi illuminates what emancipatory leadership looks and feels like in practice
📑 CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction — Dr. Fabi Bagula, First Latina Superintendent of San Diego Unified
1:45 The researcher Fabi is leaning on: Otto Scharmer's Presencing
3:00 How they met 26 years ago at Marshall Elementary
4:30 Schools belong to the communities they serve
5:50 Stepping into unsteady terrain: building trust as a new superintendent
7:00 Why honest, hard conversations move schools AND people
8:00 The weight of carrying everyone's 10-year-old problems
9:30 Laying off 69 while creating 86, and why no one heard the good news
10:40 "Don't armor up" - the hardest part of leading with an open heart
12:30 The affordable housing crisis for San Diego educators
13:45 How the district turned 5 vacant properties into 30 developer bids
16:00 $4 billion in long-term revenue with zero taxpayer dollars
17:45 Why educators living in the communities they teach matters
19:00 Whole child AND whole adult education
20:30 Lightning Round: school culture, the support gap, and what teachers need to know
22:00 Teaser for Part 2
🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Don't forget to🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE with fellow educators!
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Next Episode
Part two of my @schoolutionspodcast conversation with Superintendent Fabiola Bagula, Ph.D., details the San Diego Unified School District's strategies for affordable housing and community building. Their initiative showcases a regional vision for urban planning that aims to tackle the housing crisis and drive social change. This discussion offers a glimpse into real estate and local news efforts to support educators.
💫Make sure to watch Part 1 & Some Episode Mentions:
➡️David Tate's Conscious Accountability
➡️Ayanna Pressley (quoted by Fabi) "The people closest to the pain should be closest to the power."
➡️Emancipatory Leadership and Improving Equity in Education
➡️Balboa Elementary: school where Fabi served as principal and implemented the full-day grade-level PLC/RTI model
📑 CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction: Part 2: The Financial Strategy & Bold Regional Vision
1:45 How to reduce a billion-dollar budget deficit without sacrificing people
3:00 Investing before cutting: the asset-based approach to budget decisions
4:15 Removing "my department, my budget" identity from financial decisions
5:30 Three things every district needs to replicate the housing initiative
6:00 A forward-thinking board and strong labor union relationships
6:45 Community buy-in, and the dog park request
8:00 Documenting the process so other districts can replicate it
9:00 What emancipatory leadership means: power to the people closest to the pain
10:45 200 schools, no one-size-fits-all: regional autonomy within system stability
11:10 Influence over power: building voice, agency, and community
12:30 Giving principals protected time together for communities of practice
13:30 The Balboa Elementary model: one full grade level out every day
14:00 The Yale research finding that stopped superintendents cold
15:30 What actually moves student achievement: competitive wages and time
16:15 Affordable housing as peace of mind, the missing layer in teacher time
17:45 BRAND NEW: The Regional Housing Finance Authority
18:15 What if we built affordable housing around under-enrolled schools?
19:30 40% of community college students are housing insecure
20:00 Bond money, votes, and a vision for families setting roots in San Diego
21:00 How to follow the initiative and access resources as they're published
21:45 Next episode teaser: Dr. Benjamin Freud, The Green School Bali
🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Next Week: Dr. Benjamin Freud, Head of Upper School at Green School Bali, challenges everything we think we know about education, from the dangers of "global citizenship" as a mission statement to why rubrics and standardized assessment are fundamentally at odds with how learning actually works.
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
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