The year 2026/2027 will also be the year of the General States of the Tuscan School: the director general of the regional school office Luciano Tagliaferri has convened them to build a first proposal for the “Tuscan Agenda for the School 2026-2028,” bring it to the territories, discuss it, correct it, and finally adopt it together. An Agenda that will indirectly also have to deal with the housing emergency.
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High rent costs, teachers look for housing on social media
«I am a primary school teacher and I am looking for an apartment for rent in the city center … preferably in an area convenient to reach the school,» writes a user in one of the many social groups “specialized” in facilitating the meeting between supply and demand for teacher housing. «I am looking for a room for rent with kitchen use or a studio apartment, I am a newly hired teacher, period from September to June. Thank you very much to anyone who can help me,» adds another. And another: «I am a teacher, looking for a rental house in … preferably not too far from high schools, from September 2026 to June 2027, budget 400 euros.» “Soldiers” (with many male “comrades”) of the proverbial army of precarious workers looking for housing at a price compatible with their paycheck.
School in Tuscany, over 300 teachers give up their position
Two weeks before the first school bell, in fact, more than 300 teachers in Tuscany would have given up their permanent positions in schools (all levels) in the region for various reasons, heavily influenced by the high cost of living. It is the Flc Cgil, the federation that brings together knowledge workers, that estimates that of the 300 mentioned above, 250 would be teachers who gave up their role in regular positions, about sixty in support roles.
«The high rent costs, along with the high fuel prices, seem to influence the choice of several workers,» confirms Pasquale Cuomo, regional secretary of Flc Cgil, and announces: «On the 9th we will hold the usual press conference with the data calculated at the unit level.»
On the same line is Roberto Malzone, general secretary of Cisl Scuola Toscana: «The high rent costs, together with the high fuel prices for many who have to commute, certainly affect teachers and can be one of the causes that led colleagues to give up their positions, although it is not the only critical issue of the regional school system: there are also the stabilization of support roles and the demographic decline, which particularly affects the Ata staff.»
Teachers’ salaries and rental costs: the comparison
The calculations, unfortunately, are quickly made. According to estimates for the 2026/2027 school year, a newly hired teacher, with 0-8 years of service, earns on average between 1,700 and 1,800 euros gross, that is between 1,350 and 1,450 net. With 15-20 years of service, the net rises to 1,600 – 1,750 and gradually up to a maximum (always on average) of 2,000 – 2,300.
The rental market, on the other hand, for an 80 square meter accommodation starts from about 230-270 euros per month for economical or peripheral solutions and rises to several thousand euros in prestigious areas or in the historic centers of art cities or tourist locations on the coast.
School in Florence, students decrease and critical issues increase
“Casus belli” of this September, which already seems oriented towards mobilization, is the report on the return to school made by Flc Cgil Florence a few days ago for schools of all levels in the Metropolitan City area: school population reduced by 2,356 units, cuts to the teaching staff on classes and on “enhancement” with a teaching staff facing a reduction of about thirty units of personnel useful to guarantee additional activities, and then a cut to the Ata staff of 52 units starting precisely from this school year.
Not to mention that 15% of positions that could have been permanent remained without a holder and 263 Ata hired against an availability of about 730 positions not covered by a permanent holder.
Support and substitutes, the numbers of the Florence school
A separate chapter is the issue of support positions: out of 3,656 total support positions in the Florence area, 60% are covered by temporary staff.
Finally, «the plague of “substituteitis”», 3,100 appointments planned only for the first round, which could exceed 30% of the total number of teachers in Florence and province. A phenomenon that would also be common to other provinces.
Tuscan school, Tagliaferri: «Practically total coverage of positions»
Tagliaferri reads the numbers with the opposite sign. «The peripheral administration of the ministry, in Tuscany, has ensured practically total coverage, with permanent hires, of the positions that could be covered in this way,» he writes to us in a note, specifying that «the fixed-term hires of “precarious” staff, therefore, reflect the nature of the availabilities, which by type could not have been covered with permanent staff anyway.»
High rent costs and renunciations, the School Office: «Phenomenon to be investigated»
As for high rent costs as a possible co-cause of renunciations, the director general of the regional school office emphasizes that «I am not aware of it, as we have not had feedback from schools, but that does not mean the phenomenon is not real. I consider a reflection on this necessary, at various levels.»