An aging workforce and low pay are among the factors that might make it more difficult for New Hampshire schools to attract and retain teachers, a nonpartisan research nonprofit recently found.
From 2024 to 2034, more than 1,100 teaching vacancies are projected to occur annually in Granite State schools, according to a new study by the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute. Almost all of those openings are projected to arise from educators retiring or changing careers.
Ben Reynolds, a senior policy analyst at NHFPI who authored the report, said in an accompanying news release that, even though New Hampshire schools are seeing declining student enrollment, the need for more teachers remains as they retire or leave the profession.
Meanwhile, there are fewer residents completing education degrees, teachers’ salaries are lagging behind other workers with college educations and higher living costs are making it harder for educators to live in the state, Reynolds said.
During the 2024-25 school year, New Hampshire ranked 42nd nationally in average starting salaries for teachers, the study found.
“New Hampshire’s ability to recruit the next generation of teachers will depend both on whether enough people are entering the profession and whether they can afford to stay in it,” Reynolds said. “With teachers facing lower pay than other college graduates alongside rising housing and child care costs, the state’s ability to recruit and retain educators may become increasingly challenging.”
Teachers play an important role in student development, says Meghan Tuttle, president of New Hampshire’s National Education Association chapter. Fewer teachers means less class offerings and larger class sizes, which can affect the classroom environment and academic performance.
The challenge of finding and keeping teachers is not new, nor is it improving, Tuttle said. In 2023, a N.H. Legislature committee produced a study that found the teacher shortage was driven largely by low salaries, school culture, student behavior and discipline and teacher burnout, according to the committee’s final report.
Last month, a WalletHub analysis ranked New Hampshire the worst state to teach in, in large part because of a low grade for economic factors like teacher salaries and pensions.
A lack of affordable housing and high child care costs also deterred some teachers from taking jobs in the Granite State, the legislative committee found.
The committee’s recommendations included that the state invest in “proven recruitment and retention strategies,” establish a higher education incentive program for educators in rural and underserved areas and write legislation to increase support for education programs at career centers.
That last recommendation sought to address another growing problem for New Hampshire. The number of students graduating from the state’s colleges and universities with education degrees dropped by half from 2015 to 2025, the NHFPI study found.
The committee also found that rural and underperforming districts cannot compete with wealthier districts, and that there should be more funding for smaller communities to retain teachers, according to the report.
Many Granite State residents have pointed out that since New Hampshire’s education funding system relies heavily on property taxes, the amount that school districts can afford to pay their teachers is disparate, even varying widely between neighboring districts. Others argue that school districts underperform and need to be more frugal.
Tuttle, a former educator herself, thinks New Hampshire needs more teachers.
“It’s very rewarding as a career,” she said. “Having a good-quality teacher in the class will help the child get everything they can out of the class.”
The full study is available at https://shorturl.at/MxLBt
Noah Diedrich can be reached at 603-355-8569, or ndiedrich@keenesentinel.com.
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