Teachers complain about lack of planning time

Her nights and weekends a blur of job-related paperwork, Elizabeth Magiera is ready to raise the white flag.

The fourth-grade teacher at Four Seasons Elementary School in Gambrills is sick of lugging home a dozen books to plan her weekly lessons, and even sicker of missing her niece's weekend soccer games to handle extra paperwork.

Then there's the graduate degree she barely has time to pursue and the evenings she's too pooped to do much besides conk out.

"Our average work day is 10 hours and it's still not enough," she said. "I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Ms. Magiera's hectic schedule is common,...