NEWS

Teacher shortage: Boosting pay depends on taxes

Patrick Anderson
panderson@argusleader.com

Debra Johnson has spent two years trying to fill a teaching job at Chamberlain High School, but she won't ask local property taxpayers to help boost her hiring budget.

Chamberlain's base salary for a new teacher, like any starting salary for a South Dakota teacher, is low. No other state pays its teachers less than South Dakota.

Johnson and many of her colleagues think the state's rock-bottom teacher salaries are central to their struggle to find qualified K-12 teachers. They're calling for a statewide solution.

As the 2015 legislative session ramps up, though, it's looking less likely that Pierre will pass the kind of tax increase educators have asked for.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who has framed teacher pay as a local issue, downplayed the state's responsibility to solve schools' hiring problems last week in an Argus Leader "100 Eyes" interview.

"The state can only impact teacher salaries in an indirect way," Daugaard said. "To the extent that the state is seen as the sole solution for this, then where are those dollars supposed to come from?"

Public school leaders have tried to build support for a summertime penny sales tax to fund teacher pay, but lawmakers appear to have little interest in a politically risky tax increase.

Daugaard and others, meanwhile, point out that school districts are already free to collect more local property taxes — an option that school officials say is limited both politically and logistically.

"We won't be looking at that," Johnson said. "We just think that we are showing our taxpayers that we are able to manage our district with the funding that we are given."

The numbers

Teachers in South Dakota ranked 51st in average salary in the U.S., after all states and Washington D.C. public schools, according to 2012-13 estimates.

More recent data shows teachers in the state still were about $8,000 behind North Dakota last year, the neighbor with the next-lowest average. The gap that would take almost $80 million more, per year, to close, according to estimates from the Associated School Boards of South Dakota.

South Dakota's lower cost-of-living doesn't put teachers here on even footing with neighboring states either, according to the South Dakota Budget and Policy Institute.

Accounting for cost-of-living, teachers in Minnesota still have 29 percent more purchasing power, while teachers in Iowa have 28 percent more and teachers in North Dakota have 17 percent more than their South Dakota counterparts. Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska teachers all have higher salaries, even adjusted for price parity, according to the budget institute.

Big, small, near a state border or not — district officials say they're feeling the crunch.

The drive from Flandreau to Pipestone, Minn., takes 20 minutes. Salary for a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree is about $6,000 more in Pipestone public schools.

Flandreau Superintendent Rick Weber assumes some of his applicants also are submitting resumés across the border.

"I think it hits some districts harder than others," Weber said. "But I also think it has affected every district in the state at some level."

Opt-outs

School districts already have a way to collect more money without waiting on lawmakers. A local funding mechanism known as an "opt-out" allows districts to raise local taxes higher than South Dakota's per-student funding cap, which is set by lawmakers.

"Obviously, it is local school boards that set teacher salaries within the context of the funding that's available to them," said Tony Venhuizen, the governor's chief of staff.

Like many districts, Chamberlain already spends about 80 percent or more of its budget on personnel. Officials are responsible with the money they have, and there isn't a lot of flexibility to move around dollars and cover pay increases for teachers, Johnson said.

Base salary for Chamberlain teachers is $31,500. Meanwhile, Johnson's two-year hunt for a high school construction teacher continues.

Officials in Chamberlain might not consider an opt-out as a viable option, but other school officials are more willing to embrace the idea.

Already, 45 percent of public school systems in this state can spend beyond the per-student cap because of action taken by local school boards. Sixty-eight school districts will raise $25.4 million in opt-outs this year.

The Sioux Falls School District has a $7.5 million annual opt-out, and it's helped provide more funding for things such as teacher salaries, said Kent Alberty school board president.

"Is that an option? Yes it's an option," Alberty said. "Do I believe it's the best option? No, I don't."

Opt-outs depend on public support. They need two-thirds approval by a school board and can be referred to a public vote.

Even if it passes, an opt-out is temporary, unlike employee salaries. Since 2002, all opt-out proposals need a sunset.

Many opt-outs are taken to a vote, and that's the way it should be, said Dan Swartos, superintendent of McCook Central public schools.

But there's another apparent problem with local opt-outs. Even with almost half of every district in the state spending millions of dollars more than the state-approved K-12 funding levels, there still are reports of unfilled openings and dwindling candidate pools.

McCook Central's opt-out is perpetual, passed before the 2002 sunset requirement took effect. It allows officials to spend up to $295,000 per year above the per-student allocation.

Last year, Swartos had four applicants for a science teacher opening at the high school, he said. McCook Central officials are facing the departure of least two more teachers next year, a kindergarten teacher and a third-grade teacher.

"We've got two leaving but we're going to do what we can to absorb those," Swartos said. "That means doing a lot of shuffling and a lot of restructuring."

Even though the Sioux Falls district gets millions from its opt-out, human resources Director Becky Dorman said she still struggles to find takers for special education jobs. Some postings get zero response.

"Our district has been verbalizing this for many years," Dorman said. "We are concerned about finding teachers with the educational background and experience to serve the needs of our students."

The Alcester-Hudson School District also suffers from a shortage of qualified candidates, despite having an opt-out.

Officials can spend $400,000 more a year beyond the state cap. They trimmed back to $350,000 this year. Superintendent Tim Rhead is skeptical about whether adding opt-out money is a perfect solution for improving salaries.

"Who's the bad guy in that scenario, you tell me?" Rhead said. "The governor, who's not raising your taxes or the school district who is?"

Daugaard has proposed a 2 percent increase in school funding for 2015, but his office has indicated he won't support a proposal to increase sales tax by a penny during the summer months to increase teacher salaries.

According to the plan's advocates, the seasonal sales tax bump would raise about $40 million a year. Still not enough to catch up with North Dakota.

Pogany's was one of the people who first pitched the idea in September. He's not certain the idea will make it into bill form, but the proposal has already made a difference, Pogany said.

"There are lots of legislators talking," Pogany said. "We wanted that conversation started, and we have."

K-12 FUNDING: LEARNING SESSION

Todd Vik, business manager for the Sioux Falls School District, will host a presentation 6 p.m. Thursday at the Instructional Planning Center, 201 E. 38th St., about K-12 funding.

Parents and community members can attend, and Vik will talk about "easy-to-understand" facts regarding South Dakota public school funding, according to the district.

BY THE NUMBERS

68: number of school districts in South Dakota with an opt-out

$25.4 million: opt-out funding raised by school districts, above state K-12 funding limits

63: percent of people who supported the idea of a one-cent sales tax in June, July and August to increase teacher pay

$7.5 million: the Sioux Fall School District's yearly opt-out

31: the number of school districts that started the 2014-15 school year with job openings for teachers, according to a fall survey

$37,500: base pay for public schools in Pipestone, Minn.

$31,350: base pay in the Flandreau School District.

$33,469: base pay in the Sioux Falls School District.