Principals in North Carolina are staying put in their jobs more often, according to a report by the state’s Department of Public Instruction earlier this month. Attrition rates declined from about 7.5% in the 2023-24 school year to 6.1% in 2024-25, and most of those principals who left were nearing retirement.
Attrition rates here include principals who moved to a different school or district as principals and those who took up district-level positions, in addition to those who did not return to work in the North Carolina public school system. The data also capture principals who left their positions to return to the classroom or take up an assistant principal role.
A majority of the state’s more than 2,400 principals—including 75% in low-performing schools—remained at the same school from year to year. Still, turnover was higher in low-performing schools: 54 out of 658 principals leading those schools didn’t come back to their positions, and didn’t take a different job at another North Carolina public school. The attrition rate of principals in low-performing schools was 8.2%, which includes principals who moved to other schools in the same district or the state. In comparison, 5.3% of principals in high-performing schools left their positions.
“Any change in the [rate] might just reflect differences [like] we had a few more principals that hit their 30-year mark in one year [compared to previous years],” said Thomas Tomberlin, the senior director at the state education department’s office of educator preparation, licensure, and performance. “I wouldn’t put it to changes in any kind of dispositions towards the role.”
The state only began formally tracking principal attrition in the 2024-25 school year. But other estimates indicate that far fewer principals are leaving their jobs in the state now than in the years immediately after pandemic building closures, according to research by the Education Policy Initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill.
From September 2020 to 2022, attrition rose sharply—from 10.4% to 17%—following a national trend of principals leaving at a higher rate in the post-pandemic years.
Even at peak attrition, districts were largely able to replace departing principals—unlike with teachers, for whom vacancies have been harder to fill, especially in some subject areas.
One reason: compensation. The principal job usually comes with a six-figure salary, which makes it more appealing to stay in the role or apply for principal openings, said Tomberlin.
“Principals may be the primary wage earner in a family. So that promotes some stability. Teachers are, maybe, the secondary wage earner. [If] the primary wage earner gets transferred, the teacher goes with them.”
Principals have tough working conditions. Does that show up in the data?
The drop in attrition may signal stability—but it may also reflect constrained mobility.
Nationally, principal attrition rates have halved from 16% in 2022 to 8% in 2024. But interpreting the data requires caution, said Patrick Greene, the principal of Greene Central High School in Greene County, N.C. Greene is also the former president of the North Carolina Principal and Assistant Principal Association.
Greene said pandemic-era federal relief funding temporarily led to an expansion of district-level leadership roles, drawing some principals out of school leadership for central office positions. At the same time, superintendent turnover created additional openings into which many principals stepped.
Now, as those funds expire and school districts contend with tighter budgets, those pathways for principals have narrowed, potentially leading more to stay in their current roles.
There are also fewer principal positions to move to as more districts consolidate schools due to dipping student enrollment, the result of declining birth rates, an “aggressive” push for school choice, and other factors, according to Greene.
“Principals are dealing with, on the one hand, having to figure out how to do more with less, or at a minimum, maintain where they are with less,” said Greene, referring to budget deficits most school districts in the state are facing.
The lack of a full state budget isn’t helping, either. Teacher salaries are frozen, and districts are unsure of how to pay for school supplies, instructional support, or new staff positions, Greene said.
“That creates an environment you don’t want to really stay in. We are sandwiched. On one side, there’s nowhere for me to go, and I’m asked to do more with less,” said Greene.
Tomberlin said he’s cognizant that the principal role has become more difficult and complex. Factors including insufficient funding, high teacher turnover, and the pressure of being held accountable for students’ academic success, can take a toll on principals.
But there isn’t enough detail in the state’s administrative data to definitively make a connection between principal burnout and turnover, Tomberlin said.
Last year, 6% of principals who resigned switched careers. This year, 5% did.
“I think the [burnout factor] exists. It’s just unclear if we can tie that directly to, ‘I’m burned out as a principal. I want to go do something else.’ What if they were offered a big management job for $100,000 more than what they’re getting?” said Tomberlin. “That’s not burnout. That’s making a smart career move.”
Steps to get principals more support
State initiatives may be helping stabilize the workforce, Tomberlin said.
He pointed to a 10-year-old statewide program called the Advanced Teaching Roles, which helps schools develop experienced teachers into instructional leaders—potentially easing principals’ workloads.
Tomberlin also said other measures, like the North Carolina Principal Fellows program—a 10-month internship—better prepare aspiring principals for the growing challenges of the job. Principal interns receive a stipend and get to shadow an existing principal for most of the school year.
Greene, who went through the program as a young principal, credits the state for investing in a strong principal pipeline.
“Catching these people early [is important]. You don’t just learn by making mistakes. There are people to walk you through the principal’s thought process,” he added.
Still, challenges remain.
In 2025, Greene and a group of educators from the state, including researchers at North Carolina State University and members of the Department of Instruction, piloted a survey to gauge principals’ working conditions. The pilot was rolled out for 10 districts, and over 90% of the principals and assistant principals in these districts responded to the survey.
While most principals said their districts were good places to “work and learn,” the survey clearly identified the need for more professional development in instructional leadership, how to manage student behavior, and supporting diverse learners.
“Anybody knows the principalship is not a 40-hour week,” said Greene, “but it’s the other pressures, and what feels like an assault on the public school system.”
Even as attrition declines, the underlying pressures of the job remain unresolved.
“It feels like we’re playing defense against a system set up to fail us,” Greene said. “But we don’t want to carry that mantra. We want to be proud of our community. We want to be proud of our kids.”
