Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced on Friday (2/6) his office will establish a “Blue Ribbon” task force with the charge of studying K-12 education.

 

The task force will examine school funding, student achievement and the teacher shortage. Task force members will include government officials, school board members, administrators, teachers and parents. It is not expected to convene until 2016.

 

“Assembling a task force shows us that Gov. Daugaard is listening to the education community, legislators and the public that there is indeed a crisis in education,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said.

 

Last year four studies were released by SASD about an imminent shortage of teachers in South Dakota’s public schools.

 

The studies highlighted the large gap between potential retirees working in schools and potential teaching candidates enrolled in education programs in South Dakota’s post-secondary institutes, the role low teacher pay has played in the number of teachers leaving the profession and the number of classrooms across the state left without a teacher.

 

“There’s been a lot of data accumulated by SASD, ASBSD and the education community that can be brought to the table,” Pogany said.

 

ASBSD will provide updates on the task force as they become available.