These are the changes South Dakota's teacher pay board recommended to Gov. Noem, lawmakers
It’s time for an updated teacher salary and compensation accountability model that enhances average teacher salaries at district and state levels.
That was one of the conclusions of the South Dakota Teacher Compensation Review Board as it finished up its work for the year Friday last week, making recommendations to the governor and Legislature stating as such.
The board also recommended the legislative and executive branches carefully monitor the ongoing impact of inflation when setting the state education finance formula increases in the future.
More: South Dakota is 'inflation plus $5K' away from 'great' teacher compensation, school official says
Inflation impacts a school district’s buying power, as the board discussed, and board members wanted policy makers to recognize inflation as an important factor when considering future increases in the state aid funding formula.
The board also included several performance indicators from the Department of Education in its report after discussing outcomes and how investment of state funds may or may not directly impact things like student achievement, attendance and graduation rates.
Data presented to the board, and included in the final report to the governor and Legislature, includes the following conclusions:
Average teacher salaries in South Dakota grew 7.7% between the 2016-2017 and 2021-2022 school years.
Base teacher salaries in South Dakota grew almost 2% more than average teacher salaries did between the 2016-2017 and 2021-2022 school years.
Despite salary increases in South Dakota, the state continues to lag behind its neighbors in average teacher pay.
Administrator salaries increased more than teacher salaries did between the 2016-2017 and 2021-2022 school years.
When considering price parity, the salary difference between South Dakota and its neighbors is smaller, but South Dakota still remains behind them.
The number of job postings for teachers is increasing, and openings in special and elementary education reflect a consistent and growing need. Unfilled teaching positions have also been on the rise.
Board members finalized their conclusions after discussing the teacher shortage and what’s causing educators to leave the profession, school performance indicators, accountability for districts increasing teacher salaries and potential changes to the school funding formula.
More: Could another change in South Dakota's school funding formula be coming?
Board chair Sen. Jim Bolin (R-Canton) said there are many reasons teaching is becoming a less attractive career option for people, including financial reasons and the difficulty of the job.
Education Secretary Joe Graves said right now, teachers are leaving because of an increase in student behavior, as well as cultural effects from COVID-19, the judicial response to young offenders and compensation.
Rep. Mike Stevens (R-Yankton) said behavioral issues in schools are an epidemic across the U.S.and attributed that to COVID-19, single-parent homes and substance abuse.
In discussing the relationship between student performance and district accountability for reading teacher salaries, Sen. Reynold Nesiba (D-Sioux Falls) said the state is not meeting its very low targets for student performance and that indicates something needs to be done differently for the trend to change.
“If we continue to underfund (education) and pay our teachers dead last in the region, I’m not sure that’s going to improve morale or improve performance," he said. "But investing in our teachers (and) investing in our system of education might be the kind of thing that turns those trends around."
More: Board meets to discuss solutions for lagging teacher pay, looming teacher shortage
Rep. Stephanie Sauder (R-Bryant) said she hoped an increase in salary and compensation could increase veteran teachers’ morale.
Aberdeen School District Superintendent Becky Guffin said one thing that’s very clear in research is that the biggest impact on a student’s performance or achievement is the teacher in the classroom, and many districts are missing teachers in classrooms in very key positions.
Guffin said she knows of nearby districts without a third grade teacher or high school science teacher, in turn leading to lower reading or science scores, for example. She also cautioned that data in general will be skewed because of COVID-19 and learning loss.
Bolin said there needs to be some kind of accountability in codified law to make sure the state and its school districts continue to boost their teacher pay. Nesiba said the current accountability measure of penalizing districts who don’t meet targets doesn’t work, and Graves noted that hasn’t been implemented.
Sauder questioned if changing the current state statute from “3% or inflation, whichever is less” to just “the rate of inflation” could help schools fund teacher pay, but Bolin said it would be difficult to get something like that through the state's appropriations committee. Graves also cautioned if everything is based on inflation, that can accelerate the budgeting process and it will start to drive inflation itself.
Nesiba said it will be important to continue communicating that any increase to education funding doesn’t mean all of that funding goes toward increasing teacher pay, but to that and to other costs districts have.
This board won’t meet again until 2025, unless the law requiring it to convene every two years is changed, as Stevens hinted he may bring such a bill.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: How SD's teacher pay board wants lawmakers to enhance teacher salaries
