Dive Brief:
- According to a recent survey by the School Administrators of South Dakota, 30% of the state's unfilled teaching positions remain unfilled.
- The vacancies spread across many schools, as over 80% of South Dakota public school districts reported having significant vacancies in May of this year.
- Filling fine arts, foreign language, and counseling positions is the most difficult task, according to Pierre School District Superintendent Kelly Glodt.
Dive Insight:
“The teacher shortage is a big problem that affects all academic areas in our schools,” School Administrators of South Dakota Executive Director Rob Monson said in a press release. “We don’t just lack math and science teachers like has been previously publicized, we lack teachers in every subject and every school district.”
It is important to note that South Dakota ranks last when it comes to teacher salaries. This lack of applicants is a perfect example of why incentives like pay must be considered when thinking about school budgets. Without teachers, it's going to be pretty difficult to run a school — unless, of course, everything moves to technology. Hopefully, it won't have to come to that.