Baltimore County faces an unprecedented educator shortage, and only bold and forward-looking action by the leaders of this county and school system can fix it.

Tuesday’s school board vote to provide the needed funding to recruit and retain critical staff in our schools was the right move, and Baltimore County leadership — Baltimore County Public Schools, Baltimore County government and the Teachers Association of Baltimore County — should work together to find a way to make it sustainable, because not doing so will have long-term and long-reaching effects for the county as a whole. We will fail our children and, in so doing, decrease the quality of life in Baltimore County and spur a predictable decrease in property values and revenue.

Baltimore County Public Schools lost over 1,000 educators this school year. Meanwhile, the system has been unable to fill many of these positions. Going into the 2022-23 school year, we have close to 500 unfilled positions — a vacancy rate of roughly 5% — leaving empty classrooms where educators belong, and where children are about to sit.

BCPS is using innovative and persistent measures to attract educators. However, the national educator crisis is strong and relentless. BCPS is responding by moving staff, including resource staff, to cover classroom openings. We understand the need for these emergency efforts, but these piecemeal fixes are not the long-term solutions needed. A world-class school system must not ration education in this manner; instead, the solution must be to make BCPS a more attractive option than school systems in surrounding counties and states.

Baltimore County does not lead the state in educator pay — we are the third-largest system and are ranked eighth in the state for career earnings. If Baltimore County keeps losing classroom educators and continues to offer insufficient pay to compete with neighboring counties, we will continue to see our vacancy rates go up. This will lead to more empty classrooms, more educators leaving our county and the profession, and likely a loss of quality education for students.

There is a precedent for using a one-time funding source for recurring expenditures: The county executive wisely decided to use COVID-related funds to pay for the first two years of the 15-minute extension of the school day — a decision we applaud. As with that bold choice, allowing the one-time use of funds to transform educator pay, allowing us to retain and recruit educators, is the right move. And then county leadership must work to make this sustainable.

The county executive, in a recent op-ed piece, raised fears about needing increasing revenue to fund competitive educator pay. He said the school system should “take a serious look at its existing budget and explore options for re-allocation.” We agree all parties need to work together to secure funding for these agreed-to salary enhancements. Our students deserve fully staffed schools. As studies show, the teacher in a classroom is the most “influential factor in determining student success.” We should be more concerned about what happens if we do not properly fund our school system. Baltimore County will likely gain a reputation for having a school system not worth teaching in, which will drive families away. At that point, Baltimore County property values would be among the casualties of short-sighted fiscal and policy decisions. That is not the future we want. We must find a way to recruit and retain educators.

Now is the time for Baltimore County’s leadership — in the county government and school system — to unify around bold funding choices to help support and advance our school system. When our system is healthy, our county will be healthy, and all boats will surely rise.

Cindy L. Sexton

Cindy Sexton is the president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County.