Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight
PIERRE — The South Dakota House Education Committee advanced a proposal Wednesday to create a statewide educator retention initiative.
The bill, brought by Sioux Falls Democratic Rep. Erik Muckey, asks for a $2.5 million appropriation for the state Department of Education to provide grants to school districts and accredited non-public schools, potentially working with an outside organization to come up with data-driven approaches.
A few committee members expressed concern about the price tag, but the bill moved to the Legislature’s budget panel, the Joint Committee on Appropriations, on an 8-5 vote.
It’s more expensive to fill a teaching position than it is to keep a person on staff, Muckey told the committee.
“Teachers are vital public servants in our communities,” he said. “Keeping the profession at the forefront is really important for our state, not just for our schools and our students, but for the workforce needs of our state.”
Learning how to create a strong work environment is an important part of addressing the teacher shortage in the state, according to Nathan Eklund, founder of Vital Network. It’s a consulting firm that’s been working with North Dakota school districts to address the same concern.
Last year, 1,000 teachers in South Dakota left the profession, Eklund said. There are about 10,000 teachers in the state. When teachers leave, it can impact students and their communities, especially in rural areas.
“When we lose our teachers, we lose our schools, and when we lose our schools, we lose our communities,” Eklund said. “We look at this as more of a retention issue, almost more so than a teacher shortage.”
Joseph Graves, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Education, said the department has had conversations with Vital Network about the project.
Salary and workload are important components of getting teachers to stay, but so are learning how to help them regulate student behavioral issues, some committee members noted.
Those that voted against the bill mostly cited concerns about the amount of funding.