Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s State of the State Address today was a historic step forward for the funding of public education and it’s a step ASBSD and our Board of Directors supports.
The governor’s pledge of more than $80 million in total funding for schools is the biggest immediate increase we’ve seen in decades and one mostly supported through the proposed raise of a half cent to the state’s sales tax, which will provide the new, ongoing revenue source our school desperately need to help stifle our state’s teacher shortage.
“Gov. Daugaard has listened to our pleas for help with the teacher shortage and, along with input from the education community through the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, developed a plan we believe will help us solve this growing problem,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said.
“The ASBSD Board of Directors supports this proposal and is prepared to help lead in the advocating efforts of putting new, ongoing money in public education. We’re grateful for Gov. Daugaard’s leadership and partnership on the matter.”
The education community stands on a united front in support of Gov. Daugaard’s proposal as ASBSD, School Administrators of South Dakota (SASD), South Dakota Education Association (SDEA), the Large School Group and the South Dakota United School Association all endorsed the plan.
As school board members we’ll have to be a strong voice in advocating for the proposal that would raise our state’s sales tax for the first time since 1969 and is the driving force of a much needed new, ongoing revenue source.
“There remains much work to be done,” Pogany said. “We need to communicate with our legislators why the sales tax increase is the new, ongoing revenue source we need to solve the teacher shortage.”
As with any proposal of this magnitude there are many moving pieces and ASBSD has thoroughly vetted each and its potential impact on schools. We will continue to work on these pieces and share information on them with our members.
For more information on the pieces outlined in the proposal read our summary here.
Going forward with this proposal, Pogany asks that we focus on the main part of the proposal: the new, ongoing revenue source that will provide schools with much needed dollars for teachers.
“We haven’t seen a proposal like this before and it has parts that we still need to discuss,” Pogany said. “But, we need to remember the main thing it does, which is brings more than $80 million to public schools next year that can go to improving teacher salaries.”
“We need everyone to join in advocating to their legislators in favor of this plan and taking that historic step forward in the future of public education funding.”