According to a recent press release from the Maryland State Department of Education, teacher vacancies for the 2026 – 2027 school year have dropped significantly.
Maryland public schools have made progress in addressing teacher shortages, with vacancies declining 73 percent over the past four years, according to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). The state reported 572 teacher vacancies at the start of the 2026-27 school year, down from 2,145 in 2022-23. The largest year-over-year improvement came between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, when vacancies fell by 45.3 percent.
In Anne Arundel County, the number of vacancies dropped from 283 in 2022 to just 16 on the first day of school this year. State officials credit salary enhancements, educator recruitment and retention efforts, and partnerships among state agencies, school systems, and labor organizations for helping strengthen the workforce.
It has not yet been made clear how many of the vacancies reported were due to cutting positions that have been left open. A number of school systems, including Anne Arundel, Cecil, and Carroll – to name a few – have eliminated teacher positions in multiple schools as they continue to try and come into compliance with mandatory minimum school funding standards that have led to reductions in teaching staff. In some areas class sizes have increased to more than 40 students in middle school grades. This news comes as Maryland continues implementing its Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, which calls for a stronger educator workforce alongside broader efforts to improve student outcomes.
