2025‒26 Certificated Staff Reports

In July 2026, the California Department of Education (CDE) released the 2025–26 Certificated Staff Reports on DataQuest . The release includes four reports that provide information on certificated staff by race/ethnicity, educational attainment, years of experience, and student-to-certificated staff ratios.

To access further information about the above data, including key takeaways and DataQuest resources, select the links below:

Certificated Staff Counts by Race/Ethnicity
Certificated Staff Education
Certificated Staff Experience
Student/Certificated Staff Ratios
Resources

2025–26 Certificated Staff Reports

Certificated staff are defined as those who require credentialing for their position, including classroom-based teachers, administrators (superintendent, principal, vice principal), pupil services (counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, nurses), and non-instructional support staff (mentor teachers, teachers on special assignment). All the data are reflective of Census Day information, which are data collected from local educational agencies (LEAs) on the first Wednesday in October.

Each section below highlights key takeaways from the 2025–26 Certificated Staff Reports, focusing on the most important findings.

DataQuest users can explore the data at the statewide level or drill down by county, district, and school. The data are also filterable by staff type, school type, alternative school status, grade span, and gender. For a high-level overview and longitudinal analysis of certificated staff data, please refer to the concurrently released Certificated Staff Data Flyer (PDF).

Certificated Staff Counts by Race/Ethnicity

This report presents race and ethnicity distributions for certificated staff, including aggregate staff counts. Data are reported for the following race/ethnicity categories: African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Filipino, Hispanic or Latino, Pacific Islander, White, Two or More Races, and Not Reported. Reports are available on the CDE Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• Statewide, kindergarten through grade twelve (K–12) teacher counts increased by 1,232 in 2025–26, bringing the total teacher workforce to 287,358.
• The teacher workforce continues to reflect increasing demographic representation, as the number of Hispanic or Latino teachers grew by 3,383 to 78,357 in 2025–26.
• Administrator staffing levels remained relatively unchanged from the previous academic year, while pupil services staffing continued to expand, increasing by 1,030 personnel in 2025–26.

Certificated Staff Education

This report presents the highest degree attained by certificated staff, including the following degree categories: Associate, Baccalaureate, Baccalaureate Plus (bachelor's degree plus at least 30 semester units beyond the bachelor's degree), Master, Master Plus (master's degree plus at least 30 doctoral-level semester units), Doctorate, Special (Juris Doctor), and None. Reports are available on the CDE Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• Teacher educational attainment continued to increase, with the number of teachers holding Master’s and Master’s Plus degrees rising by a combined 2,909, while counts of teachers holding Baccalaureate and Baccalaureate Plus degrees declined slightly.

Certificated Staff Experience

This report details the experience levels of certificated staff such as:

• Experienced: Count of certificated staff who have more than two years of teaching experience.
• Inexperienced: Count of certificated staff who have two or less years of teaching experience.
  • First Year: Count of first year certificated staff.
  • Second Year: Count of second year certificated staff.
    

Reports can be viewed at the CDE Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• The teacher workforce became increasingly experienced in 2025–26, as the number of experienced teachers rose by 4,271 to 257,033, representing 89.5 percent of teachers.

Student/Certificated Staff Ratios

This report presents student-to-certificated staff ratios at the statewide, county, district, and school levels. Data include full-time equivalent (FTE) values, where 1.0 represents a full-time position and 0.5 represents a half-time position, for teachers, administrators, pupil services personnel, and non-instructional support staff. Student-to-staff ratios are calculated by dividing student enrollment by certificated staff FTE which represents the number of enrolled students per full-time equivalent staff member within each certificated staff category. Reports are available on the CDE Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• Continuing its decline, the student to teacher ratio improved by 0.4 to 20.4:1 in the 2025–26 academic year.
• Student-to-staff ratios continued to improve in 2025–26, with the student-to-administrator ratio decreasing to 201.4:1 and the student-to-pupil services ratio declining to 151.4:1.

Resources

Provided below are CDE web pages and communication links to the most up-to-date DataQuest topics:

• DataQuest Highlights: Announces the release of the latest DataQuest reports and provides an at-a-glance exploration of select data.