2024 Update: What’s the Cost of Teacher Turnover?

By Learning Policy Institute

High teacher turnover undermines student achievement, and replacing teachers consumes valuable staff time and resources. Turnover also has an important impact on teacher shortages because most open positions each year are created by teachers leaving the profession before retirement.

The research used to create the teacher turnover calculator indicates that larger districts can, on average, spend nearly $25,000 on replacing a departing teacher when school and district expenses related to separation, recruitment, hiring, and training are factored in. High turnover can have additional fiscal impacts, as the investments made for hiring do not pay their full dividend when teachers leave within a few years.