Open teaching positions in South Dakota continue to add up each month.

 

In November, the ASBSD Teacher Placement website, which is hosted by ASBSD for school districts to post teacher and administrator positions they are seeking to fill, logged 158 open teaching positions posted

 

The 158 open positions in November are three times as many as listed in the fall of 2020, following the COVID school year, and nearly 100 more than posted in 2016-17 – the school year following the implementation of the sales tax increase to raise teacher pay.

 

“This is obviously a major concern for public schools in South Dakota,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said. “In relation to previous years, this is an astronomical number of openings this early in a school year.”

 

 

Indeed not, as the number of teacher positions posted in November of 2015 – the year the Blue Ribbon Task Force completed their study on the teacher shortage – was less than half of what was posted this year at 70 openings.

 

Open positions posted on ASBSD Teacher Placement has only been higher than 100 in November one other year: 2021. ASBSD Teacher Placement position posting data has been collected since 2011.

 

“The need for teachers is clear in these numbers,” Pogany said. “Schools need to get to their legislators and share their concerns about our growing workforce shortage. We need solutions this spring to come from the Capitol.”

 

With the 2023 legislative session scheduled to begin on Tuesday, January 10, now is the time to contact your legislators and discuss your district’s needs.

 

Click here to see what legislators represent your district and click here to view legislator contact information.

 

For updates from the upcoming session, check the ASBSD Blog and Billtracker page.