Price of Teacher Turnover
- Christina Kottmann
- Oct 9
- 4 min read
Does your Head of School know the true price of losing one great teacher this year?
Many international school leaders are unaware of the costs of teacher turnover. Research from the U.S. estimates that replacing a teacher costs about $11,000 to $25,000 USD. A large U.S. district calculated turnover costs of $3.7 million annually. Unfortunately, data from international schools is both hard to access and inconsistent across regions.
Knowing the dollar amounts can position education leaders to have conversations about teacher retention that aren’t reduced to complaints about pay or workload. To address turnover, examine what the school is losing, and where there are opportunities.
What Schools Are Losing
Think back to a teacher who seemed woven into the fabric of a school for decades and was appreciated years after retirement. That stability is no longer the norm.
Today’s high teacher turnover damages:
Trust between families and the educational institution.
Morale among colleagues, especially when entire cohorts arrive and depart together.
Student achievement, particularly when turnover happens mid-year.
The shift isn’t about teacher loyalty. It’s a signal that schools are struggling to create the conditions for long-term investment by individuals.
The Costs: Attract, Onboard, Exit
Most turnover is measured in three phases. Each one drains resources:
Recruitment and Hiring: Advertising vacancies, attending job fairs, interviews, processing applications.
Onboarding and Training: The largest expense, covering induction, mentoring, and professional development.
Separation Costs: Removing departing teachers from payroll, conducting exit interviews, and managing substitutes.
Consider a school that loses 20 teachers a year. The thousands spent on turnover are funds that could be directed to improving technology, campus facilities, or expanding student programs.
What We’re All Missing: The “In-Between”
While schools calculate costs to attract, onboard, and exit, the real leverage point lies in the years between those milestones.
This is where employment conditions either sustain teachers or push them out. Research consistently finds that administrative support is the strongest predictor of retention. Teachers who report ineffective leadership behavior are more than twice as likely to leave.
Additionally, turnover leads to:
Loss of human capital when mid-career teachers, the most stable group, leave.
Overburdened remaining staff when turnover is high.
Disruption of institutional knowledge, collaboration, and culture.
Student inequities when inexperienced or underprepared teachers are hired into high-need school settings.
Addressing retention is not just about preventing exits. It is about cultivating ongoing supportive relationships and effective communication that help educators continually invest in their future at the school.
Reframing the Turnover Crisis as an Opportunity
School leaders must address the retention challenge as an opportunity to restructure an important aspect of the education system: how we value and support employees.
The data is clear: increasing compensation reduces turnover. Teachers in U.S. districts with maximum salaries near $100k USD are far less likely to leave than those in districts where the cap is $60k. Yet pay alone is not enough. Salary increases can ease pressure temporarily, but they do not address the deeper cracks in culture, communication, and sustainable growth at the school.
This is where the opportunity lies. Even when budgets are tight, schools can tackle turnover by investing in practical fixes.
Practical Fixes
Invest in Relationships: Train leaders in supportive communication, and have intentional conversations with teachers you want to retain.
Track Hidden Costs: Have the HR team use turnover calculators to make the financial impact visible to boards, leaders, and stakeholders.
Redesign Career Pathways: Create lateral roles such as mentors, innovation leads, or community liaisons that allow teachers to grow without leaving.
Reduce Mid-Year Exits: Prioritize mentorship and wellbeing support, especially for newer educators. Mid-year incentives and support programs cost less than emergency replacements.
Empower Teacher Voices: Invite educators into decision-making that shapes their and students’ experiences.
When leaders treat retention as a sustainability strategy, they protect both the school’s financial stability and community trust.
Why Retention Matters
Teacher turnover is not just an HR challenge. It is a threat to the financial health, community stability, reputation, and academic success of students in schools.
The true costs go beyond the dollar amounts per teacher. Schools that invest in relationships through improved internal communication, culture of care, and inviting voices shape the educators’ and students’ experience on campus. Schools can save money while also strengthening the community into becoming a place where great teachers choose to stay.
Thinking about the teachers in your school, what can you do today to start addressing their retention?
Resources
Try these tools to calculate turnover for your school:
Here is another article related to this topic that you might find insightful. The Kind of Appreciation Teachers Actually Need
References
American Federation of Teachers (AFT). (2024, November 22). New survey: Teacher pay plays a big part in retention.