The district’s board of trustees reviewed labor statistics from Aug. 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, during an Oct. 10 board meeting. FISD had 1,310 resignations—an attrition rate of 14.7%— during that time, according to a presentation given by Chief Human Resources Officer Pamela Linton. The rate was lower for teachers at 13.4%.
“We are always working on retention,” she said. “Looking at the [attrition rate] and knowing that [FISD saw a] decrease in one year speaks volumes about what our staff and community and our students did.”
A closer look
About 13% of teachers left the profession between fall 2021-22, according to the Texas Education Agency. That is the highest percentage on record for Texas, Linton said.
Across the state, almost 29% of newly hired teachers entered the profession without a Texas certification or permit during the 2022-23 school year. For Frisco, this number was 2.5%, Linton said.
The district saw an average of 522 substitute requests per day in the 2022-23 school year, Linton said. The overall substitute fill rate was 88%, with a fill rate of 90% for teachers, she said. In 2021-22, the district’s overall fill rate was 85%, with the teacher’s fill rate being 86%, according to the presentation.
“It’s unheard of to have the fill rates that we had,” Linton said.
Substitutes have been a way to hire teachers and paraprofessionals in the district.
The district hired 77 teachers and 63 paraprofessionals in the 2023-24 school year from the district’s substitute sourcing company, Linton said. In the 2022-23 school year, the district hired 148 teachers and 114 paraprofessionals from the company, she said.
“Our subs continue to be one of our best recruiting sources,” Linton said.
Diving in deeper
New professionals joined FISD from 29 states as well as Mexico and India, according to the presentation. The top states teachers came from include:
- California
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Oklahoma
- Arizona
- Mississippi
Of the newly hired staff members:
- 37% of professionals have earned a graduate degree
- 35% of classroom teachers are new to the profession as compared to 60% last year
- 40% of teachers joined FISD with at least six years of experience
- Plano ISD
- McKinney ISD
- Allen ISD
- Dallas ISD
- Prosper ISD
- Lewisville ISD
- Little Elm ISD
- Richardson ISD
- Denton ISD
- Garland ISD
Of the district’s new hires, 160 are returning FISD employees, which shows FISD's goal of becoming a destination district, Linton said.
“That speaks volumes about what our folks are doing,” she said. “When people leave and have the opportunity to come back, they return to us.”
