Teachers wanted: Grads leaving S.D. despite shortage

About half of all aspiring teachers who graduate from a South Dakota college leave the state after earning their degree, according to a report presented Wednesday to lawmakers and educators.

An analysis by the state’s Department of Education, though, also shows that despite the brain drain the state’s supply of new educators in the next five years looks to outpace new demand from enrollment gains and teacher departures.

The projections were delivered to the governor-appointed Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students, formed in the spring to reconsider how schools are funded and address concerns about teacher salaries.

Among the numbers the panel heard: 240 classrooms in South Dakota started the 2014-15 school year without a teacher.

“This is the first indication that we are starting in a hole,” said Steve O’Brien, an English teacher at Watertown High School and member of the task force. “We are still talking about literally thousands of students going without opportunity because of this shortage.”

South Dakota ranks last in the nation in teacher wages, and education leaders blame low pay for what they say is a shortage of qualified candidates.

Heather Maschino, 31, loves Sioux Falls public schools, but she’s not sure she wants to work in South Dakota. She is a double major at Dakota State University in elementary and special education, but Maschino said she’ll probably move to Minnesota after graduation.

Teaching isn’t about the money for her, but Maschino is worried about getting a big enough check to pay off her student loans.

“I love kids, I want to help kids that grow up in impoverished situations,” Maschino said. “But I do have to be able to provide for myself.”

More: Education coverage from Pat Anderson.

State colleges are expected to crank out 3,381 teachers between 2015 and 2019, and about half are projected to leave after they earn a degree, according to the task force report. Meanwhile, enrollment is expected to steadily increase, creating the need for more teaching jobs as educators retire and resign.

But increasing need should be outpaced by the pipeline of new teachers, according to projections from the state education department. Teaching grads who stick around will be joined by out-of-state candidates and by those who earn credentials from the state’s alternative certification process.

“What we potentially have in the next five years is about 400 more teachers than the need we projected calls for,” said Abby Javurek-Humig, director of the department’s Division of Assessment and Accountability. “Not taking into account the depth of the teacher pool, the resources available.”

But task force members wondered if a buffer of 400 extra teachers would be enough. Schools are already starting out with unfilled teaching jobs.

South Dakota public schools started last school year with 240 teacher vacancies, according to the task force report. They compensated in a number of ways:

*  32 percent spread out classroom duties among other teachers

* 18 percent used distance learning

* 17 percent cut classes

* 9 percent still had vacancies in October

Schools are doing all of these things before the first day of school, said Brian Maher, superintendent of the Sioux Falls School District and another task force member.

“When we get to the time school starts, those options really aren’t available to us anymore,” Maher said. “I would even contend that at this point, we’ve already made a decision between poor options for our students, and that at this point in time we’re even looking at poorer options.”

Sales tax for teacher pay?

Members of the state’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students talked about the possibility of introducing a sales tax to improve wages for South Dakota educators.

The 26-member group of lawmakers, officials, community members and educators broke into small groups to exchange ideas for updating how the state funds K-12 schools. The proposals, including potential sales tax increases, will be distilled and added to a report for the group’s Oct. 1 meeting.

Education advocates pitched the idea of a one-cent summer sales tax increase last year, but the proposal never found traction in the Legislature. However, a poll conducted by Argus Leader Media and KELO-TV last year showed 63 percent of likely voters from both major parties would support such a measure.