SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - According to a survey of South Dakota school districts, teacher salaries are on track to meet a statewide target average of $48,500.
Governor Dennis Daugaard says the projected average teacher's salary this fiscal year is projected at just over $46,000, a nearly 12 percent increase statewide.
Daugaard says South Dakota's low cost of living and many teacher's desire to stay in their home state weren't enough incentive to ignore better pay in neighboring states.
Daugaard says he's "very pleased that, in one year, our schools have made incredible progress toward our target salary goal. The new funding formula asks schools to become more efficient, and we know that will take some time. An increase of nearly 12 percent in the first year indicates that our schools kept their commitment to invest this new funding in our teachers.”
Final school district salary data will not be available until Fall of 2017, after Fiscal Year 2017 has ended. The Department of Education conducted a survey based on preliminary data to gauge the first-year impact of the Blue Ribbon education package.
Earlier this year legislators passed funding increases proposed by the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Education.
