Superintendents’ statement on budget proposal
News Staff
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Body
The Executive Board of the South Dakota School Superintendents Association issues the following statement in response to Governor Noem’s budget address: We are genuinely grateful to the Honorable Governor Kristi Noem for proposing a budget that includes legislation directly in line with the “Blue Ribbon Task Force Recommendation” and allocates an additional $11 million to specifically address the one-time shortfall of enrollment declines as a result of the pandemic. The increase in state aid does the following: It allocates funding to the schools for the “Teacher Target Salary” to increase by 2.4%, .9% above the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and increases teacher pay above the 2016 law that moved teachers’ salaries in South Dakota out of “51st” in the nation, and allows our public schools to compete for the best and brightest teachers in our region to stay in South Dakota.