By Public Schools First NC

RALEIGH (March 7, 2026) – On March 4, NCDPI presented to the State Board of Education findings from the annual State of the Teaching and School Administration Professions in North Carolina.

Data show that teachers are leaving the classroom at a rate of 10.11% (up slightly from last year’s  9.88%), which puts teacher attrition at the second highest rate for the years included in the report. The record of 11.50% was set in 2022-23. The current attrition rate is much higher than before the pandemic. 

Teacher attrition is largely rooted in legislative budgetary choices and working condition policies. This situation was preventable and indicates a policy-driven, intentional dismantling of the workforce. The teacher shortage was entirely avoidable, yet policymakers have chosen to create a hostile environment that feels intentionally designed to drive educators out.

It is time for lawmakers to reverse their harmful policies and systemic underinvestment. It is time for our legislators to take the teacher attrition issue seriously and bolster teacher pay immediately.

Beginning teachers (those with fewer than three years of teaching experience) had a much higher attrition rate (14.9%) than teachers with more years of experience (9.34%), which highlights a critical issue for North Carolina’s public schools: How can districts retain early-career teachers?

As seen in previous years, educators with 30 or more years of experience are leaving at the highest rate as they choose to retire. 

Teacher attrition rate also varies widely across the state. Weldon City Schools has the highest attrition rate at 26.53%, while Clay County Schools has the lowest at 4.30%.

Another concerning trend is the falling percentage of teachers entering the field from a traditional education preparation program (EPP). The percentage has dropped from 33% in 2017-18 to 27% in 2024-25. The percentage of teachers coming from EPP residency pathways or from other states has also dropped in recent years. 

As a result, districts have relied more on international teachers. The percentage of newly hired international teachers rose from 5% in 2017-18 to 13% in 2024-25. 

Although many international teachers are both experienced and high-quality, their tenure in the state is limited by their visa status, further adding to teacher turnover.  According to a recent article in Border Belt Independent, North Carolina was second only to Texas in the number of K-12 education visas approved by the federal government in 2025. Recent changes in visa regulations puts the future of these visas at risk and will likely leave some of the hardest-to-staff districts scrambling to hire teachers. 

By halting future voucher funding, lawmakers would have hundreds of millions available to allocate to teacher salaries. This would be a great first step!

North Carolina lawmakers are in a position to reverse these trends in the upcoming legislative session. They can fund professional teacher salaries that are competitive with our surrounding states and support teacher development programs that are shown to advance teacher career growth and retention.

Contact your elected officials and urge them to prioritize public schools in the next budget!