Between July 2025 and July 2026, 87 of these districts — or 17.4% — experienced a leadership change. That's a decline from the past two years, when 23% of superintendents exited in 2024-25 and 20% left in 2023-24. Before the pandemic, turnover was around 14% to 16%.
Superintendent transitions began occurring more frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the years that followed.
Despite turnover reaching its lowest level since before the health crisis, those who did leave their positions in 2025-26 were either early in their careers, with less than two years in the role, or were veterans with six or more years under their belts. Mid-career exits decreased.
Of the 94 superintendent changes from the past year, 53 — or 56% — handed off their superintendency to a permanent successor with no interim in between.
“Turnover may finally be moving back toward pre-pandemic levels, but the pandemic’s impact on school system leadership is unmistakable,” said Dr. Julia Rafal-Baer, co-founder and CEO of ILO Group, in a Sept. 14 statement. "The lesson is not that leadership should never change. It is that sustained progress requires enough time to move from a plan, to implementation, to results. And then when a transition does happen, districts have to protect the work through the handoff.”
