State data shows that teacher turnover (the share of educators who don’t return to the same district) has climbed to roughly 20% in Texas over the past two years, up from about 16% pre-pandemic.
In the 2022–2023 school year, Texas hit a new high with a 21.4% turnover rate – an 81% increase since 2010. This trend spans all K-12 school types. Charter schools, in particular, face an even heavier churn, with roughly double the teacher turnover rates of traditional public districts. While private schools are not required to report turnover publicly, many also struggle to retain talent in the face of rising competition and workloads.
These data points mirror a troubling trend across Texas: A surging teacher turnover crisis that is steeply costing schools, students and communities.
Houston’s exodus in focus
No place illustrates the problem quite like Houston ISD. Following a contentious state takeover of the district in 2023, HISD saw an exodus of educators. By the summer of 2024, roughly 4,700 of HISD’s 11,000 teachers had left during the 2023-24 school year, or over 40% of the entire teaching force gone in one year…