The State Board of Education will release the 2011-12 Teacher Turnover Report next week.

But who has time to wait until then?  I don’t.  The State Board of Education posted the report on their website today, so I thought that I would provide a short summary of the report:

  • There was a slight increase in the teacher turnover rate.  Last year’s rate was 12.13 percent (11,791 of 97,184 teachers).  During the 2010-11 school year, the rate was 11.17 percent (10,792.5 of 96,651 teachers).  Yes, the total number of teachers increased last year.
  • Much of the increase can be attributed to an increase in teachers retiring with full or reduced benefits (+312), those resigning to teach in another public school district in North Carolina (+261), and teachers who were dissatisfied or changed careers (+176).
  • The 2011-12 rate was lower than the 2007-08 and 2008-09 turnover rates.
  • The top five reasons teachers left the profession were as follows:
  1. Retired with full benefits (2,021 teachers)
  2. Resigned to teach in another NC public school system (1,625 teachers)
  3. Family relocation (1,239 teachers)
  4. Moved to a non-teaching position in the LEA (921 teachers)
  5. Resigned – other reasons (1,018 teachers)
  • The top five reasons were unchanged from the 2010-11 school year.
  • Weldon City had the highest turnover rate (25.36 percent).
  • Elkin City had the lowest rate (2.02 percent).

So, how many teachers did Republicans fire?  It depends on the measure.

  • Typically, we look at Reduction in Force (RIF) figures.  RIFs dropped from 227 in 2010-11 to 172 in 2011-12.
  • During the 2009-10 school year, there were nearly 500 teachers in this category.
  • There was a slight increase in the number of teachers who did not have their interim contract extended (+53.2 teachers).  It is impossible to know how many of these contracts were not renewed for fiscal reasons.
  • During the 2010-11 school year, 637.5 teachers did not have their interim contract extended.  That increased to 690.7 teachers a year later.  Both are large declines from the 2009-10 school year (1,019 teachers).