For years, states including California have invested in efforts to recruit and retain Black teachers, yet progress has remained limited. USAFacts noted that Black men represented only 1.3% of all teachers, despite Black students making up approximately 15% of the nation’s student population that year. Hispanic teachers represented 11.6% of the workforce, while Black teachers accounted for just 9.4%. The same survey found that Black teachers were more likely than white teachers to report performing additional unpaid work. “The framing, I think historically, has been that Black teachers are just good for Black students,” Bristol told EdSource in 2021.