Summary

In general, the National Education Association (NEA) Rankings of the States 1996 shows that Maryland's class sizes are generally larger than the national average and our attendance lower. Our teacher salaries are both higher than and have grown faster than the national average. We have a very low percentage of male teachers. Our percent change in the number of high school graduates is dropping faster than the national average.

We rank near the top in how much we spend, but near the bottom in how much we spend versus how much we could spend, having a significant amount of funds available to spend on education. In Maryland, the brunt of educational funding falls on local government, a small portion on the State, and very little comes from the Federal governmentÑthis is atypical. In addition, education funding may be difficult to obtain since school-age children represent a very low percentage of our population.

Population

We have one of the lowest percentages of population between the ages of 5-17. In terms of sheer numbers of children aged 5-17 we rank 21st in the country; we rank 18th for total population. Nearly three quarters of our population is over the age of 18. An extremely low percentage of our population is over the age of 65, though over the past ten years this population has grown significantly faster than the national average. Our population is one of the densest in the country. Our ten-year population growth was significantly higher than the national average.

Enrollment, Attendance, and Membership

Maryland has fewer school districts than nearly every other state. Our average daily attendance as a percentage of average daily membership is low - we rank 30th in the country. We rank 40th in the percent change in the number of high school graduates from 1985-86 to 1995-96, dropping 10.8% over the ten year period. Nationally, the percentage dropped 4.1%.

Faculty

Maryland is significantly above the national average for the number of pupils enrolled per teacher in 1995, ranking 11th. We rank even higher in the number of pupils in average daily membership - with 17.3, we have the 6th largest pupil-to-teacher ratio. We rank a poor 36th in the country in the percent of public school teachers who are men. Our teacher salaries were both higher than and grew faster than the national average over the previous 10 year period. Recently, teacher salary growth has slowed to a rate slightly below the national average.

More to Come...