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BILL: HB 118
DATE: January 29, 2025
POSITION: Favorable
COMMITTEE: House Ways & Means Committee
CONTACT: Mary Pat Fannon, Executive Director, PSSAM
The Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland (PSSAM), on behalf of all
twenty-four public school superintendents, supports House Bill 118.
This bill allows Maryland to enter into the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact for the purpose of authorizing regulated teachers who hold multistate licenses to teach in each member state.
Local superintendents support the General Assembly's assistance and efforts to address the critical shortages of qualified teachers and school personnel. Maryland has made progress in reducing teacher vacancies, decreasing from 2,144 in the 2022-2023 school year to 1,935 in 2023-2024. However, the state continues to face a significant and well-documented teacher shortage that varies significantly across Local Education Agencies (LEAs) due to local recruitment and retention efforts. According to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), teacher attrition remains alarmingly high, with 10.7% of educators not returning to classrooms in the 2023-2024 school year.
Therefore, we support legislation to help retain and attract educators and applaud this legislation’s authorization for Maryland to enter into the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact. The Compact will reciprocity among participant states and help reduce barriers for out of state residents to teach in Maryland.
For these reasons, PSSAM supports this bill and requests a favorable report for HB 118.
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