Record number of teachers are quitting their jobs in the U.S.

Post-pandemic stress and low salaries are the causes most cited by those deciding to change careers

Last school year, more teachers than ever decided not to return to the classroom. The data come from an analysis done in eight states by the non-governmental organization focused on education issues, Chalkbeat.

In Washington state, more teachers decided to quit in the public school system last year than at any point during the previous three decades. Maryland and Louisiana saw more teachers quit last school year than in the last ten years. In North Carolina, the trend is even more troubling, as they had a record number of teachers quitting in the middle of the school year.

The causes? High stress rates, changing student behavior, low salaries amid rising costs of living, and a rarefied political climate that is being felt in the classroom. The pandemic exacerbated these problems and many teachers could not tolerate it. The problem is that this is happening just when, because of the pandemic, many students are falling behind in their studies.

Data are not easy to obtain. The federal government does not usually keep track of the number of teacher resignations, nor do the states. So in places like California, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania, this same problem is presumed to exist but cannot be confirmed with hard data.

Chalkbeat focused its study on Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington, with hard data for the 2021-2022 school year and partial data for the current 2022-2023 school year.

In all cases, the number of teacher resignations was found to be at its highest point in at least five years, being on average 2% above pre-pandemic numbers. To put it in concrete numbers, if you are talking about a school with 50 teachers, at least one more teacher resigned than in previous years. This is not a catastrophic figure, but it is a trend that is worrisome.

In Louisiana, for example, about 7,000 teachers resigned last school year, which is about 1,000 more teachers than usual. The study details that many teachers felt overwhelmed by political issues during the pandemic (such as the rift over whether or not to open schools), while others saw a significant increase in their workload without a deserving salary.

While the report is about eight states, experts understand that the trend is nationwide.