Education Recruiting – The High Cost of Teacher Turnover

The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) estimates that the national cost of public school teacher turnover could be over $7.3 billion a year.

“In 2007, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) completed an 18-month study of the costs of teacher turnover in five school districts – Chicago Public Schools (Chicago, Illinois), Milwaukee Public Schools (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Granville County Schools (Granville, North Carolina), Jemez Valley Public Schools (New Mexico), and Santa Rosa Public Schools (New Mexico). In both small and large districts, the study found that the costs of recruiting, hiring, and training a replacement teacher are substantial. In Granville County, North Carolina, the cost of each teacher who left the district was just under $10,000. In a small rural district such as Jemez Valley, New Mexico, the cost per teacher leaver is $4,366. In Milwaukee, the average cost per teacher leaver was $15,325. In a very large district like Chicago, the average cost was $17,872 per leaver. The total cost of turnover in the Chicago Public Schools is estimated to be over $86 million per year. It is clear that thousands of dollars walk out the door each time a teacher leaves.