SPENO: 2019-2020

Who teaches New Orleans’ public school students?

Staffing decisions are one of the clearest ways in which New Orleans charter schools exercise more autonomy than schools in traditional districts across the U.S. Employment decisions in New Orleans are made at the school rather than district level. This means that choices around hiring, firing, professional development, and salaries are made by the leaders of individual schools or CMOs, rather than by the district.

Over the past 15 years, the racial demographics of educators in city schools have changed significantly. In 2004-2005, 71% of teachers in the school were Black. In 2018-2019, by contrast, of the over 3,000 teachers working with students in New Orleans’ public schools, 53.4% were Black and 39.4% were White. Overall, teachers in New Orleans are predominantly (73.5%) female. When it comes to the education level of New Orleans’ public school teachers, two-thirds have a Bachelor’s Degree, while another 32.3% have a Master’s Degree or more. Half of the city’s teachers have five years of experience or less. Another 21.0% have between six and ten years of experience. Only 16.8% of the city’s educators have more than 15 years experience.

There is a great degree of variability among schools with regards to the racial and experiential make- up of the teaching staff. Some schools or CMOs are staffed almost exclusively by Black educators, while others have almost all White educators. We also see variability with regards to teacher experience, with the city’s selective admissions schools employing more experienced teachers (>15 years) at three times the citywide average.

• There were 3,118 teachers working in New Orleans’ public schools in 2018-2019.

• The majority (53.4%) of the city’s teachers are Black, which is consistent with recent years.

• Nearly three-fourths (73.5%) of the city’s teachers are women.

• Half of the city’s teachers are within their first five years of teaching.

• There is great variability between schools with regards to teacher race and experience level.