Governor Dennis Daugaard’s proposed FY2017 budget does not mention the Blue Ribbon K-12 panel’s recommendation to allocate at least $75 million to raise teacher pay. The Governor agrees that South Dakota must raise teacher pay and assures us he’ll offer a plan when the Legislature convenes in January. But right now, the Governor has placed no money on the table to raise teacher pay.
As it stands, the Governor’s budget offers K-12 education a 0.3% increase, reflecting the very low rate of inflation that is keeping Social Security and South Dakota’s new COLA’ed minimum wage from increasing much in 2016.
The Governor is recommending a 0.3% inflationary increase to the base per student allocation for FY2017. This brings the per student allocation for general education to $4,891.39 for FY2017. An estimated FY2017 fall enrollment of 133,850 was used for calculating the FY2017 budget, which is a growth of 1,300 over the budgeted FY2016 level [Bureau of Finance and Management, “Summary of Recommended Budget Adjustments,” 2015.12.08].
The Governor is recommending spending $14 more per K-12 student. If schools allocate every dollar of that bump to raising teacher pay, each of South Dakota’s 9,362 teachers would get an extra $206. That would raise our average teacher pay to $40,229, which would leave us dismally last in the nation and do nothing to address our teacher shortage.
The Governor projects that state revenues will grow 3.54%, well above the 0.3% inflation rate to which he keys the K-12 funding increase. However, the Governor has assigned most of that revenue growth ($59 million total) to other priorities, like making sure the state employees get 2.7% raises to ensure competitive wages. To move teachers toward competitive wages, we have to wait until January.
Based on past trends that the gov and legislature have adopted, I predict that the gov will propose allowing schools to employ educational assistants and other people who may have a non-teaching degree to serve in the classroom. They may also likely allow individuals enrolled in a teaching program in a college (online) to serve as a “teacher” in the classroom. In doing this, the state can maintain its poverty level salaries yet still have an adult in a classroom, regardless of his/her qualifications. If you look at what the state has done in the past regarding school administrators, the move to employ non-qualified people to serve in public schools as educators is commonplace. This continues the attitude that Janklow articulated when he stated, “If you can run a barber shop, you can run a school.”
Janklow was onto something since barbers were at one time also surgeons and dentists(tooth pullers). Surgical precision is not necessary for politicians to mess up an educational wet dream.
The governor has not had enough time to think about this issue or read the report. Give him time.
Rohr, you’re kidding, right?
Just filling in for Tonnis in his absence.
I don’t know why you folks are complaining. He didn’t recommend a 10% cut like he did after he was elected in 2010. Thankfully the legislature trimmed that cut to 6 1/2%.
Remember when union pay raises were tied to the COLA and workers were getting a pay raise every 3 to 6 months? Well, at the same time Greenspan and the FED were raising the interest rate every 3 to 6 months as well to get inflation under control. Well in order to not have to raise the interest rate, the FED now just lends money to the banks at no charge, that has ended inflation, but only inflation as it relates to the COLA. Try living on fixed income in these times of “no inflation”.
Perhaps he may be saving the $$$ for the potential lawsuit the state may be facing for EB-5.