The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Teacher Shortage Outrage

Aug 29, 2022

A teacher reported how disgusted and humiliated she felt by the actions of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. Thanks to the shortage of special education teachers in this county for the fall semester, the board paid a contractor, with taxpayer money, to hire special education teachers.

The catch? This experienced teacher in Anne Arundel makes $65,000 per year. The contractor was offering special education teachers $90,000 to come there. And even worse, the contractor was demanding—and getting—$150,000 from the Board of Education for each teacher they supplied!

Every teacher ought to be paid more than $65,000 as they deal with all the problems of trying to help every child get an education. But this Board would rather throw $60,000 extra to the contractor than pay teachers decently themselves.