Kristi Leff, a teacher at Humphrey’s Highland Elementary School in the Amarillo Independent School District, has been named the 2025 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year.
The Region 16 Education Service Center (ESC) and Amarillo ISD shared the exciting news Friday after the state winners were announced. Leff is a fifth-grade science and English/language arts teacher at Humphrey’s Highland Elementary, where she has taught since 2015. She earned an associate degree in education from Brevard Community College, a BA in elementary education from Rollins College and a master’s degree in special education from Lamar University, according to a news release. She is certified in gifted education, English as a second language (ESL), and as an educational diagnostician.
“I walk into my classroom every day, not as a teacher, where my job is to provide my students with the content entrusted to me by the State of Texas, but as an educational guide who facilitates their acquisition of self-confidence and self-esteem. and an independent drive to be the very best version of themselves long after they leave the education system,” said Leff.
Texas Teacher of the Year is the highest honor the state of Texas can bestow on a teacher, the news release said. “The program has been rewarding excellence in classroom instruction since 1969. Facilitated by the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) since 2011, the program annually recognizes and rewards teachers who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and excellence in teaching.”
“We are incredibly proud of Kristi as she is recognized as Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year,” said Tanya Larkin, Ed.D., Region 16 ESC Executive Director, in the release. “This honor reflects her dedication to students, innovative teaching practices and unwavering commitment to educational excellence. Kristi represents the heart and soul of what it means to be an educator, and this achievement is a tribute not only to her efforts, but to the remarkable work happening in classrooms across our region. Congratulations to Kristi and Amarillo ISD on this well-deserved recognition!”
Two winners, an elementary teacher and a middle school teacher, were named during an awards ceremony Friday, Oct. 25, at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Round Rock.
Leff has previously taught at schools in Florida and at Calallen and Mathis ISD in Texas during her 21-year career, according to Amarillo ISD, and she has been named Campus Teacher of the Year several times, including at Magee Intermediate in Calallen in 2009. at Springhead Elementary in Plant City, Florida in 2014, and this year at Humphrey’s Highland.
She was named a state finalist in September after being selected as the Elementary School Teacher of the Year for Region 16 in July. She had received awards from Amarillo ISD in May.
AISD said when she was named Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year, Leff took the stage and told a moving story about connecting with a student in her first year as a teacher, before bringing laughter to the audience with an anecdote about life in Leff’s classroom. “I owe everything to my students and of course my administration, who let me do the crazy things I do, like keeping a chicken coop at school. We had the chickens, I just needed the chicken coop. They don’t know yet,” Leff said.
AISD said Leff offered some words of encouragement to her fellow teachers. “We must come together, cherish our students and do what we all came here to do: love them, show them their worth, provide them with a safe place, change their lives and build the leaders of tomorrow.”
Legacy of Excellence for Amarillo ISD
The Texas Teacher of the Year program has recognized excellence in classroom teaching since 1969.
Amarillo ISD has a proud legacy of producing state and nationally recognized teachers:
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1992 Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year – Mary McFarland of Amarillo High School
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1993 State Finalist for Elementary School Teacher of the Year – Donna Hill of Windsor Elementary School
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1995 State Finalist for Secondary Teacher of the Year – Kim Beth Buchanan of Crockett Middle School
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2006 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year – Cindy Lewis of Whittier Elementary School
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2008 State Finalist for Middle School Teacher of the Year – Vicki Mueller of Austin Middle School
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2015 Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year – Shanna Peeples of Palo Duro High School
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Texas 2025 Elementary Teacher of the Year – Kristi Leff of Humphrey’s Highland Elementary
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo ISD’s Leff named 2025 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year
