More than 10,000 North Carolina teachers left the state’s classrooms in 2023, the highest 12-month total reported in at least the past two decades, according to a new state report.
The exodus, up 42% from 2022, was fueled in part by resignations among first-year teachers and teachers newly eligible for full or nearly full retirement benefits, the latest State of the Teaching Profession report shows. The report was presented to the State Board of Education on Wednesday. The departures accounted for 11.5% of the state’s 90,000 traditional public school teachers.
To deal with turnover in this growing state, schools are turning to people working in other careers, convincing them to become teachers. The number of teachers who came from an alternative route rose to more than 11,000 in 2023, up from about 6,700 the year before. While they aren’t fully licensed teachers, they must work toward a permanent license to stay in the classroom longer than three years.
