Kimberly Jones, seen here addressing students, was the 2023 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year. Jones is one of many teachers who are deeply concerned about a bill approved by the General Assembly that would ban DEI in public education. (Photo: NCDPI YouTube video)
More than 9,000 teachers left North Carolina’s public schools last year, bringing the state’s annual attrition rate to 10.11% and highlighting ongoing challenges in keeping educators in the classroom.
The figures come from the N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction’s annual State of the Teaching Profession report, presented Wednesday to the State Board of Education.
The rate rose 0.23% from the previous year. State officials described the increase as modest, but the data show losses concentrated among both the newest and most experienced teachers.
“We do not consider this a large difference — it’s not substantive. It probably represents just the kind of wobble changes in the data from year to year,” said Thomas Tomberlin, Senior Director Office of Educator Preparation, Licensure & Performance.
The report shows that stability varies significantly by years of service. Teachers in their first five years left at rates between 14% and 18%, while attrition among those with 30 or more years of experience ranged from 15.5% to 25%. Currently, of every five candidates who enter a teacher preparation program in North Carolina, only about two remain in the profession long enough to become long-term educators.
“This year’s report reinforces the importance of addressing the core issues that lead to teacher attrition,” said North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Maurice “Mo” Green. “Our public schools cannot be best in the nation if our teachers are not adequately compensated, trained and revered. It will take action from the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and our schools to strengthen the education profession.”
In its 2026-27 legislative priorities, the State Board of Education is proposing an 8% salary increase for all public school employees.
Advocacy groups have long attributed the recruitment crisis to low pay. North Carolina currently ranks 38th in the nation for average teacher salary and 42nd for starting pay, according to the National Education Association.
“While we would have preferred to see more encouraging data in this report, the findings are not surprising. Our General Assembly has failed to invest in educators in ways that retain educators or attract new ones to the profession,” said NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly.”
For the first time, “residency-route” hires — individuals who begin teaching while still completing their certifications — made up 32.4 percent of new hires, surpassing those with traditional four-year degrees.
State mentoring and support systems currently do not distinguish between these entry routes, despite the varying levels of initial preparation. Attrition remains highest during the first five years of employment, a period when these educators are still completing their training requirements.
The state’s overall teacher vacancy rate fell slightly to 7.4% this year from 7.6% previously. State law counts any position filled by a rehired retiree or an uncertified teacher as a vacancy.
Only 151 of the state’s 2,482 principals left their roles last year, an attrition rate of 6.1 percent. Of those who departed, 59 percent did so to retire.
Among those who stayed in the system, 92.4 percent remained in a principal role, while another 4.3 percent moved into district-level administration. Notably, more than three-quarters of principals at low-performing schools remained at the same school.
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