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Anny Hoge-Franz always wanted to teach, and she didn't have to wait long. When she graduated from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore in May, she had both a master's degree in English for Speakers of Other Languages and a contract to teach in Baltimore County Public Schools that she had signed in February.

But a half-dozen other Notre Dame graduates in her ESOL program who interned at regional public schools haven't landed a job yet.

"A lot of the school districts, it seemed like they were holding out to the last minute," Hoge-Franz said.

There might have been a good reason. There has been a decline of more than 10 percent in the total number of new teacher hires for 2010-11 compared with the same period of 2009-10, according to statistics collected in mid-August by the state Department of Education. Those numbers, however, do not necessarily reflect the final hiring statistics when the school year starts.

In addition to fewer teacher positions being available than in past years because of shrinking budgets, officials said a shaky economy has cut down on the number of teachers choosing to leave their jobs.

"Being in an economic downturn, we're retaining our teachers. People are not as apt to up and leave the system or retire, and so therefore we have less attrition," said Amber Waller, an at-large school board member for Prince George's County.

For 2009-10, 3,463.5 teachers were hired in Maryland's 24 public school districts, compared with 2,991.5 teachers for the upcoming year, including full- and part-time teachers, according to the state Department of Education statistics. This represents a 13.6 percent decline. Prince George's County Public Schools experienced the most dramatic drop-off in hiring — from 663 new teachers hired as of mid-August last year to 220 this year, a decrease of about two-thirds.

Prince George's increased class size on average by two students — not including kindergarten — for the upcoming school year. This occurred with a reduction in teacher positions and by moving some remaining teachers to different positions, Waller said.

Graduates of the University of Maryland's College of Education are having a more difficult time finding teaching work in the state, said Donna Wiseman, dean of the college. The new job market can be particularly tough for those who want to find work in more desirable counties, such as Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel and Baltimore.

The recent drop in teacher hiring appears to have affected the supply side of the equation. Enrollment in the college's programs for those who hold other degrees and want to enter teaching has declined slightly, Wiseman said.

"Teaching's always seemed to be a little bit recession-proof," Wiseman said. "This economic turndown, that actually hasn't been the case."

Not all school districts fit the pattern, however. Baltimore County Public Schools, one of the state's largest systems, hired 361.5 teachers for the upcoming school year, compared with 244 teachers for 2009-10, according to the state statistics. In addition, despite the security that a teacher's job often provides, the projected number of new teachers needed jumped from 300 to 500 in Baltimore County, while the number of students is projected to remain flat from last year to 2010-11 at about 104,100.

Baltimore County schools are in good shape financially, having not eliminated any teacher positions this year while implementing cost-of-living increases for teachers, said Charles Herndon, a spokesman for the school system. At the same time, the large number of teachers on the East Coast who have been laid off recently has created a larger applicant pool, he said.

"It's been a very competitive year," Herndon said.

The subject areas for which school districts have the toughest time recruiting teachers have remained constant from the previous year, although the number of districts reporting difficulties in finding qualified teachers has declined.

For the 2009-10 teacher-hiring period, 11 of the state's 24 school districts had problems finding Spanish and math teachers, and nine districts had trouble recruiting special-education teachers. For 2010-11, seven districts reported teacher recruitment woes in all three subject areas. Only Caroline and Somerset county public schools have reported no teacher recruitment difficulties in any area.

In another respect, there simply aren't enough people like Hoge-Franz, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature from Towson University and grew up there. Maryland is a teacher "importer," often drawing on teachers from states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, said Steve Bounds, director of policy and legal services at the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

Typically, Maryland colleges and universities have produced 2,100 to 2,400 teacher graduates per year, Wiseman said, adding state Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick in past years has said the state needs 7,000 to 8,000 new teachers per year.

"We don't produce, through our college system, nearly the number that we need," Bounds said.

For Hoge-Franz, the numbers are irrelevant at this point. The first day of classes in Baltimore County is Monday. She is anxious to get started.

"I'm going to be happy when all the meetings are over and I can actually start teaching," she said.

aujifusa@gazette.net