Baltimore City teachers are getting a raise. The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners approved a new two-year agreement with the Baltimore Teachers Union on October 21, locking in salary increases of 2% for fiscal year 2027 and 2.3% for fiscal year 2028, along with higher stipend rates and more pay for work done outside the regular school day.
What's Actually in the Deal
According to WBFF/Fox45 News, the agreement updates 39 sections of the employee contract covering everything from pay to workload rules. The Baltimore Teachers Union says the 2% bump for the 2026-27 school year is retroactive to the beginning of the year, and that each year's raise will now also apply to the master's degree base salary supplement, with master's equivalence made eligible for the increase as well.
The contract also sweetens pay for teachers who pick up extra duties. Per the union's announcement, teachers who give up their planning time to cover a class will now receive 120% of the stipend rate, part of a broader push to raise compensation for work performed outside the regular school day. The agreement further limits full or split class assignments to emergencies only, and adds what the union describes as major workload protections for special education and ELD teachers.
No Changes to Health Care, for Now
Health benefits are staying put. The union's announcement states there will be no changes to health-care terms in 2026, 2027, or 2028, even as the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners and the union say they plan to work together to find ways to manage health care costs while keeping employee insurance premiums affordable, according to the release.
Most Baltimore Teachers Union members can expect total pay to rise by about 10.3% over the next two years once typical yearly step increases are factored in, per the same report from the station. District leaders framed the deal as a direct response to the cost of living in Baltimore, with school district leaders emphasizing that competitive salaries matter amid changing economic conditions in the city.
Board Chair Robert Salley said the board is grateful to have reached an agreement with the BTU that values the professionals who contribute to student achievement, and he thanked Chief Executive Officer Dr. Jermaine Dawson, the district's human capital and legal teams, and the union's negotiating partners for their work. Salley added that the contract provides teacher rate increases while maintaining access to quality, affordable health care.
Dawson, who leads Baltimore City Public Schools as chief executive officer, said educators are the indispensable foundation of the district's mission to prepare students for higher education and family-sustaining careers. He said investing in teachers' financial well-being and professional growth helps exceptional educators thrive, stay and lead students to success. District officials describe the agreement as the latest step to respond to rising living costs and to retain and support educators across Baltimore.
A Statewide Push to Keep Teachers in the Classroom
The Baltimore deal lands as Maryland works through its own statewide salary mandate. State law requires that, beginning July 1, 2026, the minimum teacher salary for all teachers be set at $60,000, according to the Maryland General Assembly. As of March, only about half of Maryland's 24 school districts had reached that threshold, Maryland Matters reported, with minimum salaries still below $60,000 during the 2025-26 school year across all nine Eastern Shore counties, plus Harford, Frederick and Garrett counties.
Those salary pushes appear to be paying off in classroom staffing. CBS Baltimore reports Maryland's statewide teacher vacancy rate has fallen 73% over four years, dropping from 2,145 vacancies in the 2022-23 school year to 572 this year, with the sharpest single-year decline, 45.3%, occurring between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Elementary education vacancies alone fell 63.3% over that same stretch, and education officials attributed the improvement partly to salary adjustments and stronger recruitment and retention efforts.
Anne Arundel County offers one example of what that looks like locally: the district cut its teacher vacancies from 283 in 2022-23 down to just 16 this year, a trend Superintendent Mark Bedell credited in part to improving teacher pay, according to the same CBS Baltimore report. Bedell said the county's teacher retention rate now stands at 95%, with non-instructional staff retention at 96%. Maryland State Education Association President Paul Lemle told Maryland Matters that salary gains so far have helped cut the statewide teacher vacancy rate by more than half in recent years. At least 16 Maryland school districts have also received a combined $33.7 million in grants through the state's Grow Your Own Educators program, per CBS Baltimore's reporting.
