Fix It and They Might Stay: School Facility Quality and Teacher Retention in Washington, D.C.

The attrition of both new and experienced teachers poses a challenge for schools and administrators across the United States, especially in large urban districts. Given the significance of this issue, a substantial body of empirical literature explores the reasons teachers leave and how they might be persuaded to remain. This article builds on this literature by highlighting another critical factor influencing teachers’ decisions to stay or depart: the quality of school facilities. It examines the significance of facility quality utilizing data from a survey of K-12 public school teachers in Washington, D.C. Findings indicate that facility quality significantly predicts teachers’ decisions to leave their current positions, even after accounting for other contributing factors.