DMV school districts face teacher shortages ahead of new school year
School districts face teacher shortages ahead of new school year
Districts across the DMV are scrambling to fill teacher vacancies before the new school year, with thousands of openings statewide in Maryland alone, especially in special education.
WASHINGTON - Districts across the DMV are trying to fill open positions before the school year starts.
The head of Maryland's teacher's union said every county in the state is dealing with vacancies - and if the positions aren't filled, that means your kids may see more crowded classrooms.
"Any opening means that there are young people who may not have a qualified teacher in the fall, and we don't want that," said Paul Lemle, president of the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA).
Lemle said there are too many vacancies across the board - and there would frankly be more if they weren't battling tighter school budgets, meaning districts are deciding not to hire for certain positions - and just deal with larger class sizes.
"We very much want people to come in to teaching, we want federal workers who are displaced by the policies of the administration to consider teaching, but definitely that shortage is a real thing with thousands of vacancies in Maryland," Lemle said.
Special education teachers are one of the most in need.
Some things they are doing in Maryland to try to attract educators is having a starting salary of $60,000 a year and making provisional hires - so you can have your Bachelor's degree and then get teacher training and certified while you teach.
Moving down to the Commonwealth - Stafford County Public Schools in Virginia looking to hire nearly 100 teaching roles and 20 specialists like counselors.
Teacher salaries start at just around $50,600 a year there.
Superintendent Dr. Daniel Smith said they've worked to boost recruitment efforts this year and are seeing it pay off. This time last year, there were 139 open positions to be filled.
"We're feeling actually really good about where we are right now, we've known about the national teacher shortage - it's not a surprise to us - so we've done a number of things with recruitment and really retention - taking care of our people here in Stafford that's helped us. Our retention rate is up," Dr. Smith explained.
Over in Prince William County, the school-based vacancies number is 184 and "continues to shrink as we onboard more employees," according to the county's media relations coordinator.
"PWCS remains committed to proactive recruitment, offering a range of opportunities for individuals interested in pursuing a career in education. We’ve greatly expanded our outreach across Virginia and the DC Metro area by implementing innovative strategies, including gas station and television advertising. We continue to host both in-person and virtual job fairs and actively participate in recruitment events at colleges and universities throughout the state and beyond. Additionally, PWCS partners with multiple universities to provide pathway programs that support aspiring teachers. These efforts have led to significant progress in teacher recruitment over the past several years."
In Prince George's County, there is actually a hiring palooza Wednesday, July 9 at Henry Wise High School.
In a statement, a PGCPS spokesperson told Fox 5:
Each year, Prince George’s County Public Schools aims to hire approximately 1,000 educators to support our 200 schools and 10,000-member teacher workforce. More than 3,200 candidates are registered for today’s systemwide hiring event — a strong indicator of interest in joining our team and promising step toward meeting our hiring goals for the upcoming school year.
Below is a statement from D.C. Public Schools:
"Ahead of School Year 2025-2026, there are approximately 147 vacancies out of 1146 positions. Under the leadership of Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee, DC Public Schools (DCPS) has worked hard to ensure educators want to devote their skills and talents to the young people of our nation’s capital. DCPS retention remains high and the district consistently ranks among the highest in the country for compensation; a commitment continued in the mayor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which includes a 3 percent raise for teachers."