When Paul Lemle, head of the state’s teachers union, was a teacher, his time outside the classroom was just as busy, if not busier, than his time inside.

He told lawmakers in Annapolis on Wednesday that he planned 20 to 25 meetings a week for two or three different courses, spent 6 to 10 hours a week grading, wrote about 50 letters of recommendation a year, met with parents, attended staff meetings, participated in special education-related meetings and more.

That type of schedule isn’t unique to Lemle. It’s a classroom teacher’s current reality, often eating into nights and weekends. That’s partly why educators and advocates added more out-of-classroom work time for teachers in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s landmark education reform legislation.

The goal was for teachers to spend no more than 60% of their time instructing students. The remaining 40% would be used to work with one another on lesson planning or other school-related tasks. Legislators called it “collaborative time.”

The plan was modeled after Asian and European countries with high-performing schools, where teachers can spend 15 to 25 hours a week working with colleagues and on lessons. They spend only 3 to 5 hours in the U.S.

The plan to extend that time could be put on hold for the next four years to save the state $759 million — worrying some educators and advocates that it won’t happen at all.

In the meantime, Gov. Wes Moore has proposed other ways to get Maryland schools the 15,000 more educators they’d need to free up their schedules and still have enough teachers in classrooms. But some educators aren’t convinced the new plan would work.

Replacing collaborative time

Moore is pitching a grant program to help school districts come up with their own schedules that give teachers more time to do the important out-of-classroom work.

That time — for teachers to assess what students learned, where they’re struggling and adjust lessons to fit — could help students get caught up post-pandemic, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality, an education think tank.

“Setting aside time for teachers to do this work, both on their own and in collaboration with their peers, may support higher-quality instruction,” its 2023 report stated.

Teachers are spending an extra 15 hours per week longer than their contract calls for to finish all their work, according to another think tank, the Rand Corporation.

Moore’s grant program would give the Maryland State Department of Education a chance to see what local model can be considered “best practices” so other districts can replicate it, his bill states.

Collaborative time doesn’t have to be during the school day, said Jennifer Lynch, a member of the board that oversees Blueprint implementation. At a state school board meeting on Tuesday, she suggested school systems work with teachers unions to make room for the extra time by extending the teacher workday or year.

Grants would be awarded by March 1, 2026.

“The word ‘grant’ scares me,” said Ben Schmitt, president of Howard County’s teachers union. In his experience, grants have run out, eventually dumping the financial responsibility on school districts.

He can see why the initial collaborative time plan needed delaying, since it wouldn’t work without enough educators. Maryland has been suffering from a yearslong teacher shortage. But more needs to be done to attract people, young people especially, to the profession, he said.

Recruiting out of state, retaining in-house

Under Moore’s plan, the state education department would have to undergo a national teacher recruitment campaign that would last until 2029. A nonprofit would do the marketing. The state would offer free mentoring to job candidates and encourage out-of-state educators to teach in Maryland.

Another recruitment incentive Moore’s pitching: $2,000 relocation grants.

Then there’s the Interstate Mobility Compact. If Maryland joins, teachers licensed in a state that’s part of the compact wouldn’t have to apply for a Maryland license. It’ll make it easier for them to get into a Maryland classroom. A bill to join the compact is already on the table.

Moore wants to also expand the Grow Your Own program that helps residents pursue teaching careers. He wants to set current school system staff like paraeducators on the path to becoming licensed classroom teachers.

They’d have to commit three years as a full-time teacher, and their work inside the classroom would count toward a teaching license. They’d get mentors and would be placed in schools or subjects with a teacher shortage.

Josh Michael, president of the state school board, said he’s confident Moore’s plans “will significantly reverse the teacher shortage that has expanded since the adoption of the Blueprint.”

“I still have concerns about the viability of expanding the teacher workforce by 25% in Maryland as called for in the Blueprint, but I remain confident that we can expand teacher collaborative time for teachers through this plan,” Michael wrote in a text message.(Michael is also executive director of the Sherman Family Foundation, a financial supporter of The Banner.)

Schmitt isn’t so confident.

“The Grow Your Own idea only works but so far,” said Schmitt.

The problem, he said, is that it would create a shortage of school support staff, who are already hard to find, as they move into teaching jobs. Support staff positions don’t always pay well, so many work two or three jobs, according to Schmitt.

“Then it becomes a scheduling and calendar issue,” he said. The work needed to pursue a teaching license cuts into their part-time jobs.

David Hornbeck, former superintendent of Maryland schools, said Moore’s proposals recognize that more needs to be done to recruit and retain teachers, and ideas like the marketing campaign and relocation grants could help. “But they are light years short of the ‘moon shot’ retention effort that is needed,” he said in a statement.

He suggests paying new recruits a bonus, offering to beat a new recruit’s best offer from competitors, pay “realistic” moving expenses and to start Grow Your Own with middle and high school students by providing summer teaching jobs.

“We must also lure a great many more new recruits from the top of their class to become Maryland teachers by creating both the classroom culture and financial incentives necessary to do so,” said Hornbeck.

Baltimore Banner reporter Liz Bowie contributed to this story.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.