A national shortage of black and Hispanic teachers will endure at least through 2060, a new report from the Brookings Institution says.

The report, "High hopes and harsh realities," uses U.S. Census projections to predict how long it will take for the teaching profession to mirror the increasingly diverse enrollment in America's schools.

More whites go into teaching, and they stay in the job a little longer, explaining a disproportion between the faces of students and their teachers: about half of students are white yet four out of five teachers are.

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These kits are being distributed to public schools across Georgia to help students who suffer an opioid overdose. (Courtesy of Georgia Department of Education)

Credit: Georgia Department of Education

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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez