In Florida teacher retention a critical with more than 4,000 unfilled teaching positions and 1,200 teachers teaching with a temporary certificate. Issue such as negative impacts on student dropout rates, turnover rates, and an increase in recruitment costs. The problem in this study is the teacher shortage in central Florida rural schools. Individuals impacted by teacher shortages include students, parents, teachers, and administrators. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study is to explore teacher and administrator perceptions of why new teachers leave the profession in rural Citrus County within five years and to identify strategies that would have kept teachers in the profession. The framework of this study is based on Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The population included teachers employed in the Citrus County school district and have continued teaching after five years. The instruments included 10 open interview questions and a focus group. The interviews were 30-45 minutes via zoom. The data was analyzed using Nvivo. Teachers reported the following themes, lack of support, the lack of experience, an overload in responsibilities, the responsibilities beyond teaching academics, working conditions, teacher compensation, student behaviors and discipline, and inadequate preparation. Themes from the administrators include, the expectations differ and change, the stress of the job, the additional duties assigned to teachers, not enough administrative support, the negative parent interactions, the compensation of teachers, the curriculum taught and state standards, the lack of teacher experience, the student behavior and mental health needs, and the lack of support needed for teachers. Future research should focus on the areas of improvement highlighted by the teachers, including the lack of support and experience, work overload, responsibilities beyond teaching academics, working conditions, teacher compensation, student behaviors and discipline, and inadequate preparation. Also, the results of the recommendations implemented, increasing the geographical location, and increasing the number of participants. The researcher does not serve in leadership, thus could not affect the participants, or the data collected. Given there were no factors or implications in the data collection, there were also no implications that affected the interpretation of the data. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]