The Texas Education Agency recently released new educator workforce data for the 2025–2026 school year, and while it’s still early, the numbers offer encouraging signs that state lawmakers’ investments in teacher retention and preparation from last session are beginning to help. The data track educators remaining in teaching across certification levels, hiring details, and continued employment, and across indicators, the trends are positive.
More Experienced Teachers Are Returning to the Classroom
One of the most important early findings in the data is that the number of educators returning to the classroom after a period away has reached the highest level we have seen for any year in which this data has been available. This is a big deal. Teachers who step away from the classroom represent an important pool of experienced talent since they can already manage a classroom, build relationships with students and navigate the demands of the job.
Last legislative session, lawmakers passed a new Teacher Retention Allotment designed to boost pay for teachers who reach three and five years of experience. It’s too soon to say whether this policy brought those experienced educators back, but it is possible that better compensation helped.
Fewer New Teachers Are Entering Without Certification
The new data also show a decline in both the number and percentage of newly hired teachers who lack a teacher certification. This is still a significant share of the new teacher workforce, and it represents a challenge that Texas has faced for years. But the trend line is hopeful. The Legislature required a gradual phase-out of uncertified teachers as part of last session’s major education legislation, and the new numbers suggest that phase-out is beginning to work.
Every teacher who enters the classroom without full certification represents a gap in the preparation infrastructure that Texas is working to close and leaves students with potentially lower earnings in the workforce.
More Teachers Are Earning Certification
Coupled with the decline in uncertified hires, the number of newly certified teachers increased this year after a drop in the prior year. This is another sign that the legislative strategy may be producing results. Last session, lawmakers established incentives to encourage uncertified teachers already teaching to move toward certification, while also putting longer-term funding in place to build the supply of well-prepared teachers coming through the pipeline.
These two pieces work together: adding hurdles for uncertified hires while supporting the pathways that lead to full certification.
Teacher Attrition Is Declining
Finally, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath shared data with the State Board of Education indicating a decline in teacher attrition. The rate remains worse than pre-pandemic levels, but if the current trajectory holds, it will reduce the pressure on districts to fill vacancies with under-prepared teachers.
The trends in the new data are encouraging, but the largest investments in teacher preparation are still coming. Next year we will see the effects of the PREP Allotment, hands-on preparation for the next generation of Texas teachers.
The Legislature made a significant investment last session that targeted resources to teacher compensation, preparation, and support to strengthen the workforce. The new data suggest that the investment is beginning to pay off.
Philanthropy Advocates Connection: We were proud to support this legislation that reflects years of philanthropic investment in innovation and evaluation of high-quality preparation that the state has now scaled.
Sources
The TEA data are available through the agency’s regional dashboards at https://tea.texas.gov/reports-and-data/educator-data/educator-reports-and-data, including the Teacher Retention Dashboard (Updated April 2026, Power BI) and accompanying Teacher Retention Data (Updated April 2026, XLSX), as well as the Attrition New Hires Dashboard (Updated April 2026, Power BI) and Attrition New Hires Data (Updated April 2026, XLSX).
