Hearthside District · 2026 teacher survey

Raises help everyone a little. Support decides who stays.

Every school is on the same pay scale. Pay feels about the same everywhere. Turnover does not. It follows how supported teachers feel.

One school The two exceptions Trend

Same pay. Different turnover.

At every school, only 29% to 39% of teachers say their pay is fair. Yet turnover ranges from 7% to 23%.

Support tracks who leaves.

Schools with strong support lose about half as many teachers.

Chart 2 · Where it happens

Four schools hold most of the problem.

Ranked by support, not by name. The four schools under 70% support lose about one teacher in five.

Strong support (80%+) Middle (70–79%) Weak support (under 70%)

SchoolLeadership supports meTeachers who left

Chart 3 · What it costs

Weak support cost about 30 extra teachers this year.

If the four weak-support schools kept teachers at the strong-support rate (9.7%), about 30 fewer would have left.

56teachers left the 4 weak-support schools

26would have left at the strong-support rate

$362k–$754kto replace the 30 extra, at $12k–$25k each

Teachers who leftAt the strong-support rate

See the numbers

School	Pay is fair	Leader support	Turnover

Invented district and data. Patterns modeled on RAND State of the American Teacher (2025), the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey (2024), and the Learning Policy Institute. Replacement cost range from the Learning Policy Institute ($12k small districts, $25k large, 2024 dollars). Turnover is the share of teachers who left the school after the 2025–26 year.

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