Student Debt: An Overlooked Barrier to Increasing Teacher Diversity

There is clear evidence that a diverse teaching workforce is beneficial for all students—and particularly for students of color. But the teacher workforce in American public schools is still overwhelmingly white. A number of barriers contribute to the difficulty of recruiting teachers of color and retaining them once they enter the workforce. This analysis highlights how one barrier in particular—the unequal student loan debt that educators of color face—may contribute to the lack of diversity in the teaching profession. Teachers do not receive a salary comparable to those of workers in other professions that require the same level of education. This pay penalty presents a particular barrier for teacher candidates of color because they are more likely to have student loan debt upon graduating. This report presents a new analysis of the debt burden faced by Black and Latinx teachers as compared with their white peers and discusses what that means for their ability to pay off their loans over time. It also offers policy recommendations aimed at reducing the overall student loan debt for Black and Latinx teachers.