PHOENIX — In the Arizona Department of Education’s first report about teacher retention, presented to the Arizona State Board of Education on Monday, it said more than 14% of Arizona’s educators left the profession in the 2024-25 school year. That translates to more than 8,600 educators leaving the profession.
From July 2025 to the fall, the department said there were more than 1,000 unplanned vacancies, meaning teachers either did not report to work or resigned. More than 4,000 teaching positions remained vacant, and a majority were filled by long-term substitutes or other means.
Arizona's teacher shortage crisis has reached a critical point, with new state data revealing that burnout — not just low pay — is driving educators away from the profession at unprecedented rates.
The attrition rate has fluctuated between 13% and 18% over the past eight years, though it has been trending downward each year since 2022.
Burnout tops list of reasons teachers quit
When departing teachers were surveyed about their reasons for leaving, burnout emerged as the most frequently cited factor. Nearly one in four Arizona teachers reported being burned out from their jobs.
Higher salary needs ranked second among the reasons, while personal factors came in third.
However, when examining the factors that departing teachers most strongly agreed with, salary and personal dissatisfaction didn't rank as highly as expected. Instead, burnout, lack of respect, and student behavior issues topped the list.
Staffing solutions contributing to teacher exhaustion
The state's approach to addressing teacher vacancies may be exacerbating the burnout problem. According to the report, 24% of total vacancies are filled by teachers working under "sixth-fifth contracts."
These contracts require teachers to give up their daily planning period — typically used for lesson preparation and grading — in exchange for extra pay to teach an additional class. This practice eliminates crucial downtime that teachers need to manage their workload effectively.
“It's so easy to see, because whenever you can't get a substitute teacher, the first thing you have them cover on their prep periods, and that prep period is already so short,” said Jason Catanese, a member of the Arizona State Board of Education and teacher in a Valley district.
Some districts hit harder than others
Certain school districts are experiencing particularly high attrition rates. Phoenix Elementary District and Isaac Elementary District both saw one in five teachers leave the profession.
Charter schools face even steeper challenges, with higher overall attrition rates. Several charter organizations reported turnover rates exceeding 25%, including Edkey, Inc., Vista College Prep, Arizona Autism Charter Schools, and Archway Classical Academy.
The data provides lawmakers and education officials with concrete evidence of what's driving Arizona's teacher shortage, suggesting that addressing working conditions and teacher support may be just as important as salary increases in retaining educators.
What’s being done to help ease the teacher shortage?
The Arizona Department of Education has been doing training for early-year educators, those who are just starting the profession.
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In trying to find ways to help hire and retain educators, more school districts are turning to educator prep programs. They’re essentially “grow-your-own” teacher programs where districts and organizations are hiring people with any bachelor's degree, mentoring them, and helping them get their teaching certification. In most cases with those programs, the educator who goes through it has to stay with the district for a number of years.
Victoria Theisen-Homer, the director of The Arizona Teacher Residency Program, told State Board of Education members that they’ve seen success with their program, and educators who go through their program are staying in the profession so far.
The Arizona Department of Education is currently doing a study to see the efficacy of the educator prep programs and says the study will be done in June this year.
“Retention is the new recruitment. If we’re not focusing on retention, all the recruitment strategies, everything you’ve done with that is for not,” said Jamie Wilber, the deputy associate superintendent of education preparation with The Arizona Department of Education.
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