GLEN BURNIE, Md. — There's just a few weeks of summer vacation left before students head back to school. That means school districts in Maryland are running out of time to fill open teacher positions.
For Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS), Chief Communications Officer Bob Mosier says the district is in a good position right now.
"We have 138 teacher vacancies, and no bus driver vacancies," he told WMAR-2 News.
There's a total of about 5,700 total teaching jobs in the AACPS.
138 vacancies may not sound like something to boast about. But when compared to the last two years, it starts to look better. This time last year, Mosier said the district had almost 250 teacher vacancies, and 20 bus driver vacancies. The year before that, there were more than 400 teacher vacancies, and more than 70 bus driver vacancies.
Mosier attributes the reduction partly to the salary increases the new superintendent, Mark Bedell, fought for last year. Bedell started his tenure in 2022. Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, new teachers were offered a salary of $58,161, about $10,000 higher than the year before.
"That took our starting teachers from 19th in the state to 4th in a single year," Mosier said.
Under the historic education law passed in 2021, known as the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, or the Kirwan plan, all districts have to pay their teachers at least $60,000 a year starting in 2026.
"We have tried to address Blueprint and other challenges head-on in prior years, so while you have other districts who are in a position where they have to lay off people, that's not where we are," Mosier told WMAR-2 News.
The district also offered a $2,000 bonus for special education teachers, which Mosier said are consistently tough positions to fill. The 138 vacancies include a mixed bag of teaching positions. The number does not include substitute teachers.
"We're still looking for more substitutes. We're still looking for more custodians. We're still looking for food and nutrition services, and we're still looking for classroom teachers and bus drivers because we need to build that bus driver bench, so when somebody calls out sick, we don't have a down route. So there's a lot of work still to be done," Mosier said.
In Maryland, we mostly recruit teachers from out-of-state.
"Our colleges and universities here don't produce enough teachers to satisfy the needs for all the school systems in Maryland," Mosier said. "So we do recruitment far and wide."
Hiring and retaining teachers is a struggle for schools across the country, so our districts are fighting over what seems to be an ever-shrinking piece of the pie.
"There's no question that fewer and fewer people are going into the education field. It's a very difficult field. COVID didn't help that," Mosier said. But certainly the challenges that face educators today are large, and we continue to try and find people who will meet those challenges."
WMAR-2 News will continue looking at teacher vacancies in other districts across our area.
In Baltimore County, there are 182 teacher vacancies as of today. This time last year, there were 403. A spokesperson for the district says, "So with about 9,600 teachers in total in the county, we should be in good shape by the time the new school year begins on Monday, August 26."
In Harford County, the public school system is looking to hire about 20 more teachers. This time last year, the district had 36 openings. This year, however, there's an increased need for para-educators. There's 50 openings, compared to 32 last year.
Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) works with contractors to provide bus services for students. The contractors have some vacancies, but a spokesperson for the district couldn't give us an exact number, adding "we do not anticipate any issues covering these routes."
Bus stop and route information will be released on August 19, 2024, HCPS says.
HCPS does hire its own special education bus drivers and attendants. There are currently 19 driver and 17 attendant vacancies. Anyone interested in joining the transportation team is encouraged to call 410-638-4092.
To apply for a position in Anne Arundel County, click here.
To apply for a position in Baltimore County, click here.
To apply for a position in Harford County:
Anyone interested in applying for a position with Harford County Public Schools is encouraged to go to hcps.org and click on the Yellow Sun labeled “Employment Opportunities” on the main page. They are also encouraged to follow Harford County Public Schools Recruiter on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HCPSRecruiter [facebook.com]) for information on specific openings and opportunities to meet with HCPS staff to discuss current openings.
