When Salt Lake City teachers look out over their classrooms, they see an increasingly diverse sea of faces — more Latinos, more Asians, more Pacific Islanders, more African-Americans.

In fact, this school year marks a milestone: Minorities are now the majority in the classrooms of Utah’s capital.

But when those same students look back at their teachers, they see — with rare exception — one color: white.

Turns out, teachers of color make up just 8 percent of the district’s instruction force, according to a 2004 Utah State University study on teacher supply and demand.

“What I’d give for more minority teachers,” says Mountain View Elementary Principal John Erlacher, whose west-side school is one of the most diverse in the city with four racial and ethnic groups making up 86 percent of enrollment.

To help close the diversity divide between teachers and students, Erlacher has been urging teacher aides — Latinos and Pacific Islanders — to go back to college, earn their teaching credentials and help the school do better at connecting with the dozens of cultures and languages represented by their pupils

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