Baltimore City Public Schools reacts to teacher salaries ranking lowest in Maryland
BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City Public Schools responded on Tuesday to a recent report that teacher salaries that noted that Baltimore had the lowest-paid educators in Maryland.
Data from the Maryland State Department of Education shows that average salaries for Baltimore teachers with a master's degree had declined from $72,758 in 2010 to $64,405 in 2020, according to Capital News Service.
That salary is more than $8,000 lower than what teachers with master's degrees were paid in Garrett County, which has the next lowest pay for a Maryland school district, according to Capital News Service.
BCPS spokeswoman Sherry Christian noted that "Baltimore City does not use the earning of advanced degrees and seniority as a basis to determine the salary a teacher should receive."
"Given the unique language and approach to compensating teachers used by Baltimore City we don't track salary by degree because this data point is not germane to placement and movement on our scales," she said in an email. "Therefore, comparing our teachers with others based on graduate degrees is flawed."
Christian said that the school district considers its teachers to be "the backbone of efforts to prepare Baltimore City students for higher education and a life-sustaining career" and rewards them based on earned achievement units, not based on their degrees.
Those achievement units are earned based on evaluation ratings, engaging in professional development and other activities that contribute to improving the school community and supporting students, she said.
"Our current contract with BTU is for 2021-2023 and in FY22 and in FY23, we gave union members a 2.25% increase each year," Christian said. "The career pathways in our teachers' contract, negotiated over a decade ago sets up a compensation structure that is fundamentally different than the steps and lanes compensation structure of other districts in Maryland that are based on degrees (Master's, etc)."