The second meeting in a long-term study of K-12 education and its funding components will be held on Monday (July 21).

 

Members of the legislative planning committee will hear testimony on the capital outlay fund, other revenue for school districts and about the teacher shortage in South Dakota schools.

 

SASD Executive Director Rob Monson and SASD members will discuss in-depth the results of a survey conducted by SASD and ASBSD on unfilled teaching positions and the troubling trend of teachers leaving the position for other career opportunities and a lack of qualified candidates for open positions.

 

Survey results released in June found that 258 teaching positions (over 30 percent) remained open as of May 28 from the more than 800 teaching positions that sought applicants this spring.

 

Traditionally, South Dakota schools have most of their teaching positions filled by the end of May.

 

Earlier this year, SASD and ASBSD commissioned and released results of a survey that revealed more than 75 percent of Superintendents who responded believed the teacher applicant pool was inadequate or very inadequate and over 70 percent said their district had to fill open teaching positions with individuals less qualified than they had hoped.

 

At the committee’s inaugural meeting, ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany told the committee he hoped they would spend time closely examining the teacher shortage and struggle schools are having in recruiting teachers.

 

June’s meeting focused on the state funding formula for education, the role property taxes have in education funding and the Department of Education’s goals for education.

 

To listen to the committee’s hearing, click here and then on the SDPB logo which appears in the far right column.

 

For updates from the study, check the ASBSD Blog and follow ASBSD on Twitter @asbsd_org.