Springfield City Wire

The ratio of students to teachers in Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence District fell by 1.1% in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

There were 350 students being taught by 39.3 teachers in Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence District, which covers schools within Hampden County and has a main office in Springfield. That's an average of 8.9 students per teacher in the district during the 2021-22 school year.

In the previous year, Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence District had 365 students and 40.5 teachers on staff.

However, the state is facing a teacher shortage, just like the rest of the U.S. NewsNation reported that the state was offering emergency teaching licenses to educators who only had bachelor’s degrees, in an effort to get more teachers into schools.

Massachusetts has roughly one teacher for every 13 students, which is better than the national average of one teacher for every 16 students.

Previous Year	Student-to-teacher ratio	Current year	Student-to-teacher ratio
2020-21	9:1	2021-22	8.9:1