Teacher pay in South Dakota is ticking towards its target of $48,500.

 

The $48,500 average teacher pay target was set in 2016, after the legislature’s passage of a historic education funding package that ushered in a new state aid funding formula along with a half-cent increase to the state’s sales tax to fund the increase.

 

The 2016-17 school year marked the first year of the new state aid formula and teacher pay increase with the state’s average teacher salary increasing to $45,625, an increase of nearly $3,700 from the previous year.

 

“The increase signals a solid first step for teacher pay,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said. “The K-12 community should be encouraged by the increase in teacher pay in the first year.”

 

Review the statewide teacher compensation data here.

 

Statewide, average teacher pay increased by 8.8 percent from the previous year with more than 120 school districts seeing a 10 percent or better increase in pay.

 

“Our state’s progressing in the right direction,” Pogany said.

 

“With the mechanism in place to ensure teacher pay is reviewed every three years, teacher pay will continue to be at the forefront of our discussions and I’m confident we’ll continue to see upticks in compensation for the great teachers in our public schools.”

 

For more updates on K-12, public education issues, be sure and check the ASBSD Blog and Twitter feed.