What you need to know
In a public hearing on the district's Texas Academic Performance Report, district administrators shared that the turnover rate for teachers in the 2022-23 school year increased from 15.9% in the 2021-22 school year to 23.9%. This increase exceeds the statewide turnover rate for teachers of 21.4% by 2.5 percentage points, indicating that teachers left the district at higher frequency than was observed statewide.
What it means
Eddie Curran, RRISD's chief human resources officer, pointed to increased resignations over the past two school years, with over 800 teachers resigning in the 2021-22 school year, followed by 643 resignations in the 2022-23 school year.
"You'll recall the year before that was when we initiated a lot of programs, and we really had to think outside the box in order to find teachers because we had a marked increase in the number of resignations," Curran said.
Curran said he anticipates the next performance report will reflect increased efforts to hire and retain staff, and that the rate will drop to 17% or 18%.
What else?
In past years, the TAPR has been accompanied by a letter-grade accountability rating. However, due to legal challenges, the ratings for the 2022-23 report are currently unavailable, Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez said. He said he expects the ratings will soon become available when these challenges are resolved.
