The turnover numbers surface as HISD begins another consequential school year under state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles
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Thousands of Houston ISD students will walk back into classrooms Monday, but at dozens of campuses, many of the teachers they knew last school year may no longer be there.
Public records obtained from HISD and compiled by former district parent Tracy Lisewsky show dozens of campuses reached the equivalent of at least half of each school’s listed teaching staff during the 2025-26 school year, adding to concerns about educator turnover three years into the state’s takeover of Texas’ largest school district.
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The most striking numbers came from Barrick Elementary and Foster Elementary.
Lisewsky’s spreadsheet shows 32 teacher departures at Barrick compared with a listed teacher count of 23 as of Aug. 18, 2025, while Foster recorded 17 departures against a listed teacher count of 17.
Public records obtained from HISD and compiled by former district parent Tracy Lisewsky show dozens of campuses reached the equivalent of at least half of each school’s listed teaching staff during the 2025-26 school year.
Tracy Lisewsky
Those figures produce turnover ratios of 139 percent and 100 percent, respectively, in Lisewsky’s analysis.
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The percentages, however, require some context: Because those percentages compare departures throughout the school year with a point-in-time staffing count, they do not necessarily mean 139 percent of unique Barrick teachers left. Chron has asked HISD to clarify the figures and its current staffing levels ahead of Monday’s first day of school.
Lisewsky told Chron she began requesting monthly campus-level records shortly after the Texas Education Agency took control of HISD in 2023 after hearing reports of teachers leaving campuses in large numbers. She said her requests track teachers who voluntarily or involuntarily left each school.
“My first thought was about these poor kids and their families and what sort of education they must be getting,”Lisewsky said. “And the lack of relationships that are being formed, so a child feels, you know, safe and comfortable in a learning environment.”
The numbers extend well beyond two campuses. The analysis lists Law Elementary at 95 percent, Carrillo Elementary at 80 percent and both Henry Middle School and Woodson Elementary at 79 percent. In all, 47 campuses had departures equivalent to at least half of their listed teacher counts, according to Lisewsky’s compilation of the district records.
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The data arrives against a broader backdrop of teacher departures that predates this school year.
A University of Houston study released in January found teacher retention had already been declining before the state takeover but accelerated afterward. Of HISD’s 11,495 teachers during the 2023-24 school year, 58.6 percent remained at the same campus the following year. Another 12.4 percent moved to schools outside HISD, 7.9 percent left teaching for other public-school jobs and 12 percent left Texas public schools altogether.
Before the takeover, researchers found HISD retained an average of 74.8 percent of teachers at the same campus each year.
The study also found surrounding districts and charter networks—including Fort Bend, Katy, Cypress-Fairbanks, Spring Branch and Aldine ISDs—received more former HISD teachers in 2024-25 than during any other year examined going back to 2016-17.
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Public records compiled from HISD data show dozens of campuses saw major teacher turnover during the 2025-26 school year ahead of Monday’s return to class.
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The composition of HISD’s workforce has changed as well. University of Houston researchers found the number of first-year teachers increased 64.7 percent after the takeover, while the share of uncertified teachers rose from 0.3 percent in 2016-17 to 19.8 percent in 2024-25.
“We are continuing to investigate the degree to which long-term, lasting improvement can be attained with a declining student population and an increasingly inexperienced and uncertified teacher workforce,” Toni Templeton, a senior research scientist at UH’s Institute for Education Policy Research and Evaluation, said when the study was released.
The turnover numbers surface as HISD begins another consequential school year under state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles. Earlier this week, Miles welcomed teachers back during the district’s annual convocation while defending a controversial special education overhaul that has drawn scrutiny from parents and state and federal officials.
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For Lisewsky, the campus-by-campus numbers are less about assigning one explanation to every teacher who left and more about giving families another piece of information about their schools.
“I think broad-brushed assessments of any kind are not fair to make,” Lisewsky said, noting teachers leave for a variety of professional and personal reasons.
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What concerns her most, she said, is what repeated departures can mean inside classrooms.
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“I just want families to be informed before they make decisions,” Lisewsky said. “I think putting it holistically over HISD and looking at what is happening on a school-by-school impact, I hope is powerful.”
Chron has reached out to HISD for comment and clarification about the turnover data and will update this story if the district responds.