Sioux Falls, SD (KELO AM) - South Dakota teachers have yet to see the pay raise promised by a half cent raise in the state sales tax, but the prospect of that salary hike has been enough to slow down the state's teacher shortage.
Numbers made available by the state's Teacher Placement Center show 239 vacancies were posted in the month of May, down from nearly 400 at the same time in 2015. Rob Monson with the School Administrators of South Dakota says that's an encouraging sign. "It tells me that people either decided to stay in the profession or aren't jumping across the border because the raise they are getting in their district was enough to hold them."
Monson acknowledged that it's really to soon to tell if the promise of more money will solve the state's teacher shortage, a problem his group says may take up to seven years to fully resolve. However, despite the small sample size he says these numbers show that educators are appreciative of the effort to boost their paychecks. "I've heard from administrators that staff members have come up to them and said 'you know we were very pleased with what the legislature did this year.'" Not only for the boost in their salary, but the show of appreciation for the work they do.
The true test of the numbers will come in the next two years. Monson says once we have three data points, we will really know how the salary boost is working to retain educators, number that he thinks will point in the right direction. "I think we are going to see more positive results. I believe we are seeing a good thing."
Monson added that he went out and made a purchase on June 1st, the day the half penny sales tax went into effect. After he acknowledged the change with the clerk, she replied that it was something that needed to be done.