Advocate tells committee Colorado lacks Black male teachers; suggests apprenticeships, residencies and pipeline strategies

Curtis Valentine, founding president of the Male Educator Network and Policy Institute, told the committee Colorado faces a shortage of male educators that disproportionately affects Black students.

Valentine recited national and state figures: nationally about 23% of teachers are men (down from 33% a generation ago), and fewer than 2% of teachers nationally are Black men. He said Colorado’s data resembles the national trend (about 25% of teachers in Colorado are men) and reported that roughly 62% of Colorado schools have no Black male teacher.

He urged the committee to consider workforce interventions such as teacher apprenticeship and residency programs, expanded pathways from paraprofessional and military service backgrounds into teaching, dual‑enrollment programs to lower the time and cost of teacher preparation, and compensation strategies (for example, boosting pay for coaches) to make teaching a more livable career path.

Commissioners thanked Valentine for the testimony and asked follow‑up questions about specific policy choices to reduce barriers and create pipelines into the profession.