BALTIMORE – Racial disparities persist among students and teachers in Maryland as the workforce remains overwhelmingly white, according to demographic data presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Maryland State Board of Education.
State education officials are prioritizing maintaining a highly qualified and diverse workforce as part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s education reform plan that is pouring billions of dollars into public education. According to the most recent data available, there were more than 63,200 teachers employed as of October 2023. More than two-thirds of the teachers were white.
The number of black, Hispanic and Latino teachers has increased slightly over the past five years, but the numbers remain at 20.4% and 4.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, the difference between the percentage of students of color and the percentage of teachers of color statewide is 36 percentage points.
All school districts must increase starting teacher salaries to $60,000 by 2026, a blueprint initiative that aims to make Maryland more competitive nationally.
The Baltimore City Public School System has one of the most diverse student populations in the state at 93%. It also has the second-highest percentage of teachers of color at 61%. But there is a racial gap between students and teachers of 31 percentage points. Prince George’s County, which has the most students of color in Maryland, also has the most teachers of color, nearly 80%. The racial difference is 17 percentage points.
Baltimore County Public Schools has one of the largest racial gaps between students and teachers at 46 percentage points. About 70% of BCPS students are of color, compared to just 24% of teachers.
Cindy Sexton, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County union, said recruitment and retention is a priority for the district, but more work needs to be done.
“It is imperative that our students see themselves when they look at their teachers and all the staff at their schools,” Sexton said. “We need to do a better job of reaching teachers who are not white.”
Somerset County Public Schools had the largest racial gap at 52 percentage points, followed by Wicomico and Howard counties.
Although the number of teacher vacancies has decreased compared to the previous school year, there are not enough new teachers to fill the shortage of vacancies.
“The teacher pipeline has been drying up for years,” Sexton said. “We saw this coming on the horizon, and now it’s here.”
More than 19% of Maryland teachers did not return to teach at the same school in the 2023-2024 school year, and more than 12% did not return to the same district.
New teachers are the most likely to leave the profession, Chandra Haislet, the state’s assistant superintendent, said at Tuesday’s meeting. Attrition was highest among black teachers.
The percentage of first-year teachers who are black and Hispanic or Latino has doubled in the past decade to 30% and 8%, respectively. More than half of first-year teachers are white. About 4% of first-year teachers were Asian.
Baltimore City schools had the second highest turnover rate in the state at 17%. Baltimore County’s attrition rate was 13.8%.
Cristina Duncan Evans, teacher president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said it’s disappointing but not surprising that city schools have high turnover.
“Baltimore City teachers are working in the state’s most challenging environments without many of the supports that our colleagues in other districts have access to,” Evans said in a statement. “District leadership has largely failed to respond to teacher concerns about workload, climate and student support, causing many Baltimore City teachers to leave for other districts or leave the classroom altogether.”
A spokesperson for the city schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association, said recent laws aim to increase teacher diversity by training teachers who are from Maryland and not imported from other states.
Governor Wes Moore signed a law last month creating a “grow your own” program that will allow teaching assistants, who have a more diverse workforce, to count their classroom experience toward student internships required as part of a teaching license.
The Blueprint plan also provides educational scholarships, one of several initiatives that Bost believes will attract more teachers.
“It makes that path easier and more affordable,” Bost said. But new initiatives have yet to come to fruition. “There’s a lot in the works.”
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