Exploring the financial impact of teacher turnover


On Board Online • January 13, 2025

By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst

There is little doubt that teacher turnover has a lasting impact on student learning. Research has consistently shown that a churn of instructors can lead to lower academic achievement and more behavioral problems.

Less talked about is another consequence of teacher turnover: the financial cost. Every time a teacher leaves and needs to be replaced, school districts incur costs related to the separation from employment of the incumbent teacher as well as costs related to the recruitment, hiring, training and onboarding of the replacement teacher.

One district's experience

In the Rome City School District in Oneida County, for instance, it costs about $18,000 for every teacher who leaves and needs to be replaced with another instructor. This includes recruitment costs, advertising, hiring committees, professional development and onboarding, according to Georgia Gonzalez, the district's director of business and finance.

Rome's teacher contract requires the district to hire a qualified retired former Rome teacher as a long-term substitute for any vacancy before hiring any else. Once that individual has been in the position for 20 days, the district is required to retroactively pay that long-term substitute at a salary level that is $7,000 greater than a newly hired employee in that same position (before factoring in degrees and credits). This is in addition to any costs related to student learning, such as additional tutoring, services and extra duty pay to help students pass state assessments.

"Teacher turnover has been a challenge, especially in the areas of technology education, math, English as a new language, social workers and psychiatrists," said Gonzalez. "If the district is able to get a long-term sub for these positions, the district recognizes an increase in the budget of about 12% for that one vacancy."

For example, a certified retired teacher in a given subject receives a base salary of $57,000, plus any additional stipends for credits or a master's degree, which would bump the salary to $66,000 - $86,000. A certified teacher with no years of experience, on the other hand, would start at $48,000 with no credits or masters. The cost of insurance for a full-time teacher versus a long-term sub that does not receive this benefit is factored in as well.

Calculating the cost of teacher turnover

Teacher turnover is defined as the percentage of teachers in one school year who did not return to a teaching position in the district in the following school year. In New York State, teacher turnover was 14% between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years (the most recent years for which data were available).

The teacher turnover rate for teachers with fewer than five years of experience was 22%. This reflects teachers who do not earn tenure or decide to leave the profession.

The Learning Policy Institute, a Palo Alto, California-based education research organization, seeks to help school leaders and policymakers quantify the financial impact of teacher turnover by providing an interactive tool on its website. This tool incorporates data from five research studies that calculated the financial costs of the separation, recruiting, hiring and training activities associated with teacher turnover to come up with per-teacher estimates for districts and schools of differing sizes. The per-teacher estimates offered in the calculator are:

  • $11,860 for districts with less than 10,000 students.
  • $16,450 for districts with 10,000 to 50,000 students.
  • $24,930 for large districts (more than 50,000 students).

A NYSSBA analysis found that, if these estimates are applied to teacher turnover data for New York school districts in 2023, districts outside of New York City spent an average of about $260,000 annually for turnover-related costs.

The analysis found wide variation among regions of the state. School districts in the Finger Lakes region, consisting of Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates Counties, had the highest average cost of teacher turnover, at $352,046. North Country school districts had the lowest average cost ($117,976).

The Learning Policy Institute provides a 22-page technical supplement to its teacher turnover calculator at bit.ly/40cpXSx . This document summarizes research and provides information on the various costs associated with replacing a teacher.

Strategies to reduce teacher turnover

According to a study published in Educational Policy Analysis Archives, less than one-third of teacher attrition is due to retirements (see bit.ly/41EdGr3 ). The bulk of teacher attrition is due to beginning and mid-career teachers moving from one district to another or leaving the profession altogether.

So, what can local, state and federal education leaders and policymakers do to stem high teacher turnover? The following are possible strategies suggested by the Learning Policy Institute that don't require any additional financial investment:

  • Strengthen teacher preparation. Research indicates that teachers with comprehensive preparation stay in the profession longer. Districts could partner with local teacher preparation programs to identify and develop talented candidates.
  • Use residency programs to recruit candidates into high-need teaching fields.
  • Create "grow-your-own" programs that recruit members of the community.
  • Offer reduced teaching loads and collaborative planning time to new teachers.
  • Solicit feedback from teachers to guide continual improvements in teaching and learning.
  • Involve teachers in instructional decision-making.



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