Open teacher positions exceeded record levels in the previous school and calendar years and the concerning trend has continued its rise halfway through the 2022-23 school year.

 

The ASBSD Teacher Placement Center, which is a website for school districts to post open positions in their schools, saw more than 3,000 positions posted during the 2021-22 school year – the highest total ever recorded in 10 school years of tracking open postings.

 

 

The 3,154 open positions posted during the 2021-22 school year is nearly double the number positions posted in 2016-17, which was the school year following the implementation of the funding increase to schools following the passage of the half-cent increase in the sales tax.

 

“Clearly, there is a teacher crisis right now,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany testified to the House Education committee at a recent meeting.

 

“We have never seen this many openings.”

 

 

Calendar year 2022 also ended with a record number of positions posted from January through December.

 

Nearly 3,300 open positions were posted in 2022, which is almost double the number posted just two years prior and more than 1,000 positions more than the third highest number of 2,105 in 2015, the calendar year prior to the half-cent sales tax funding increase.

 

As 2022 closed and marked the halfway point in the current school year, there’s no sign of open positions slowing down.

 

 

Thus far through the 2022-23 school year, posted position openings on the ASBSD Teacher Placement Center continue to climb with the number of openings in December reaching 176 – more than 100 positions more than in 2015-16.

 

Pogany told committee members the 176 openings was “65 more than we had last year” which was the previous high in the month of December, and noted the direness of the situation.

 

“It really is a challenge for all of us,” Pogany said. “I don’t think there is an easy solution.

 

For updates on teacher openings in South Dakota, check the ASBSD Blog.