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With just months until they have to meet a July 1 deadline to raise teacher salaries to a $60,000 minimum, only about half of Maryland鈥檚 24 school districts have reached the threshold and the rest are scrambling to get there, education officials said Monday.

鈥淲e got questions from the LEA [local education agencies] like, 鈥業s there a waiver process? How could we get an exception?鈥欌�� said Rachel Hise, executive director of the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future Accountability and Implementation Board. 鈥淎nd the answer was, 鈥楴o, there isn鈥檛 a waiver process. This is a statutory requirement by July 1 of 2026.鈥�

Hise said local school officials are still working on their fiscal 2027 budgets and negotiations with their teacher unions.

鈥淚 would say right now we are cautiously optimistic that most, if not all of them, will get there,鈥� she said.

Her comments came ahead of a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Economic Development hearing on the AIB, among other agencies. Hise was joined by Isiah 鈥淚ke鈥� Leggett, chair of the AIB, which is charged with overseeing implementation of the Blueprint by the state鈥檚 school districts.

The $60,000 minimum teacher salary is one of the many requirements of the Blueprint. According to data from the AIB, the minimum teacher salary during the 2025-26 school year was below $60,000 at schools in all nine Eastern Shore counties, along with Harford, Frederick and Garrett counties.

Hise mentioned one school system, which she didn鈥檛 name during the less than 15 minutes of her hearing, that may have the most difficulty in meeting that mandate.

Somerset County is the only jurisdiction with a minimum teacher salary below $55,000 this year. Its has a budget work session scheduled for March 24.

Maryland State Education Association President Paul Lemle said that with budget talks still going on, 鈥渋t鈥檚 too soon to say whether every district will cross the $60,000 starting salary threshold this year.鈥� But he said that salary gains so far have helped cut the teacher vacancy rate by more than half in recent years.

鈥淲e strongly encourage all districts in the state to make school funding a priority and ensure that we are doing all that we can to recruit and retain great educators for our students,鈥� Lemle said in a prepared statement.

State Superintendent Carey Wright, who was in Annapolis for a different budget hearing Monday, said in a brief interview that local superintendents and chief financial officers continue to assess their finances amid tight budgets.

鈥淚 think they鈥檙e doing the very best that they can to meet the needs of everything that they鈥檝e got going on in their district[s],鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just hard, and you鈥檝e got to make some tough decisions.鈥�

Officials in Cecil County public schools are doing just that.

Denise Sopa, chief financial officer for Cecil County schools, said in a brief phone interview Monday that the county will be able make the $60,000 minimum. But in order to do that and keep its fiscal 2027 budget balanced, Sopa said the school system will have to cut about 85 positions. In an email, she said the cuts will likely include 56 teachers, 19 support staff and 10 administrators.

During the subcommittee budget hearing, the state Department of Legislative Services recommended the Blueprint board should outline what measures can be 鈥渢aken for any LEAs that did not meet the July 1, 2026, deadline to increase minimum salaries to $60,000.鈥�

Because the salary is required by state law, one step the AIB can take to enforce compliance is to withhold funding for school districts until they meet the salary threshold. Hise said specific criteria, including the possibility of withholding funds, will be laid out in the spring.

Meanwhile, summarized the work of the AIB for the subcommittee and how the Blueprint 鈥渋s not a one-size-fits-all operation.鈥�

鈥淲e are trying to ensure that all the counties are meeting the standards,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to do this within the fidelity that we have, the flexibility that we have 鈥� and in order to ensure that many of the counties around the state are responding as appropriately as possible.鈥�

The nonpartisan research organization, NORC at the University of Chicago, continues to work on an interim evaluation of the overall Blueprint plan. An interim report is due to the AIB by Dec. 1, and based on those findings, the Blueprint board must submit a report to the governor and General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2027.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

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