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Steamboat Springs — The words "attract and retain" long have been a mantra at Steamboat Springs School Board meetings, as local officials worked to keep teachers and staff in local schools despite obstacles such as high costs of living and housing.

The mantra might be paying off - and not just in Steamboat Springs.

Fewer staff members are leaving the Steamboat Springs, Hayden and South Routt school districts after the just-ended 2008-09 school year than left the year before. Although employee turnover figures from the districts could suggest that employees are holding on to their jobs because of the economic recession, state and national education experts cite only anecdotal evidence to support that connection.

Whatever the reason, the numbers show that more teachers and staff are staying put this year, representing a rebound to stability after increased turnover in 2007-08.

In Steamboat, for instance, 24 staff members left the district or retired after the 2008-09 school year, as opposed to 29 following the 2007-08 school year. Those numbers include a sharp decline in teacher turnover - 12 teachers left Steamboat schools after this academic year, as opposed to the 22 who left after 2007-08.

The trend is similar in Hayden and South Routt, where each district lost fewer teachers following the 2008-09 school year than the previous year.

In Hayden, 15 staff members, including seven teachers, left the district or retired after the 2007-08 school year versus nine staff members, including six teachers, after this past school year. In Soroco, 17 staff members, including six teachers, left the district two years ago versus six staff, including two teachers, last year.

Ann Keating is a board member with the Steamboat Springs Education Association, which represents teachers and other district staff members. She said she didn't know whether there was a correlation between the district's lower attrition and the economy.

But she has noticed there are fewer job openings, especially at Steamboat Springs Middle School where she teaches the basic life training class.

"This is the first year I can remember not having six or seven (vacancies on staff)," she said. "It's less than that this year."

She said people may be staying because the district represents stable employment "at this point in the economy."

But at the state and national levels, numbers aren't available nor have surveys been conducted to draw a conclusion between lower teacher attrition and a poor economy.

"It does appear there are fewer retirements and fewer people quitting their jobs," said Deborah Fallin, a spokeswoman with the Colorado Education Association. But Fallin cautioned that her opinion was anecdotal and derived after speaking with colleagues at CEA. She said numbers for teachers and staff who left or retired from Colorado school districts after the 2008-09 school year do not exist.

Numbers at the national level also aren't readily available, said Susan Corman, associate director of the National Education Association's Teacher Quality Department.

Although fewer teachers and staff members have left the Steamboat Springs School District, applications for the few available openings have increased, said Human Resources Director Ann Muhme.

"We have seen a marked increase in the number of applicants for clerical positions," she said in an e-mail. "We have not noticed much change in the other classified positions. The number of applicants for licensed positions is up some from past years but not as much as we have seen in clerical positions."