Teacher Residency Requirements in Buffalo: Reconciling Community Benefits with Marketplace Realities

In 2011 Buffalo Public Schools repealed a requirement that its teachers live in the district — a “residency rule”. Because the city’s urban population accounts for only one quarter of the metro population, this rule severely restricted the teacher applicant pools. However, the residency requirement had some benefits to the community — such as providing neighborhood role models and making teachers more aware of the students’ life situations and challenges. Teachers who understand where students are coming from are likely to relate to them more easily – especially when the teachers are identifiable members of the community and share the students’ cultural and racial backgrounds