Board meets to discuss solutions for lagging teacher pay, looming teacher shortage
Last school year’s average teacher salary in South Dakota didn’t meet the target teacher salary set by the state for that year, according to data presented to the Teacher Compensation Review Board on Monday.
That’s in light of Gov. Kristi Noem’s announcement Monday that the state government ended the 2023 fiscal year with a surplus of $96.8 million in the coffers.
The target teacher salary for the 2022-2023 school year was set at $55,756, but the actual average teacher salary for all teachers across the state that year was an estimated $51,363, according to data from both the South Dakota Department of Education School Financial Data and the National Education Association.
A target teacher salary has been set each school year since fall 2016 as part of the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s goal to move South Dakota up in the NEA’s rankings for teacher pay from 51st, or dead last of all the states and Washington D.C.. South Dakota is now 49th in the nation in teacher pay, ahead of Mississippi and West Virginia and is ranked the lowest of states in the region.
That target is based on the finance formula increase, the consumer price index, the recommendation for state aid increases to education from the governor and more, DOE Secretary Joe Graves explained, adding that it’s not an accountability to districts, rather it’s part of the funding mechanism to determine the overall state aid.
The state’s average teacher salary hasn’t met that target once since 2016 because each district has their own average teacher compensation they go by, and every school is different and has different financial abilities to meet those averages, DOE officials and researchers explained Monday.
And as the demands to pay educators more money increases, so do the salary demands of other positions within the school, such as administrators, bus drivers, cooks, custodians and more, the board discussed.
Salaries for administrators have increased more than teacher salaries have between the 2016-2017 school year and the 2021-2022 school year, according to the DOE data presented to the board.
Teacher salaries increased by 7.84% during this time frame, while middle school principals’ salaries increased by 9.27%, elementary school principals’ salaries increased by 11.06%, high school principals’ salaries increased by 14.43% and superintendents’ salaries increased by 15.48%.
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With the target for the 2023-2024 school year set at $59,659, board member Sen. Reynold Nesiba (D-Sioux Falls) wants South Dakota to be first in the region for teacher pay, not last. He said it’s a political decision, and a matter of making it a priority.
Board discusses causes for, solutions to teacher shortage in South Dakota
Another big topic of discussion Monday was the fact that 11% of South Dakota teachers left their positions after the 2021-2022 school year.
About 6% of the departures were staff leaving education in South Dakota, about 4% of the departures were staff moving to a different position in South Dakota, and less than 1% were for other reasons.
Graves said recent survey data shows the number one reason people leave the profession isn’t because of their compensation, but because of student behavior.
“There’s a sense in which student behavior is better in (South Dakota) than it is in Oakland or Detroit,” Graves said.
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Nesiba said he’d like to hear public policy solutions for that issue so that schools are safer for both students and teachers. Graves said the superintendents in the state would agree that juvenile justice is a problem.
Meanwhile, the highest needs for teachers are in elementary school and special education, followed by language arts, career and technical education, math, fine arts, and miscellaneous/non-credit positions.
Board member Becky Guffin, the superintendent of the Aberdeen school district, said her district no longer offers calculus or statistics classes because they couldn’t find a teacher for it, and the district will also struggle to offer Spanish classes next year.
“Our kids have lost opportunities because we couldn’t find staff,” she said.
Board member Sen. Jim Bolin (R-Canton), a former teacher, said special education has always been a difficult position, and it takes a unique person to handle the job.
Other data points presented to the board included that fewer than half of eligible retirees tend to retire each year; the number of educator certificates processed has increased each year; and, the number of South Dakota graduates and applicants from out-of-state has increased and held.
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Solutions to ease the teacher shortage include the current teacher apprenticeship pathway pilot; a new education employment system the DOE will offer similar to the one provided by the Associated School Boards of South Dakota where people can hire and be hired; a new recruitment and retention marketing campaign the DOE will start soon; and, a state mentoring program, Graves said.
The marketing campaign will be targeted at states that have a record of sending students “our way,” Graves said.
“Sometimes we have this feeling like, ‘Well, we’re South Dakota,’” Graves said. “The truth is, there’s a lot of appeal to South Dakota. A lot of people like to come here… There’s plenty of other reasons: fishing, hunting, and a free lifestyle.”
The board hopes to have more solutions to raise teacher pay and to counter the teacher shortage in time for its next meeting, scheduled for Aug. 21 with exact place and time to be determined.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Teacher Compensation Review Board discusses pay, shortage
