South Dakota continues to pay its teachers less than every neighboring state does. But South Dakota does pay its auditors a relatively competitive wage, says Auditor General Russell A. Olson. In his budget request to the Legislature’s Executive Board last week, Olson presented figures for salaries in his 43-member Department of Legislative Audit showing that South Dakota’s average auditor pay starts behind the average for neighboring states but rises to beat our neighbors’ average pay for top auditors:
Our starting pay for auditors in the Capitol beats Iowa’s, Nebraska’s, and North Dakota’s. DLA’s two audit managers are making more than the average in gold-standard Minnesota, but our audit managers have an average of 29.5 years of experience, more than twice as much as those managing audits for the Minnesota Legislature.
The average starting pay for South Dakota teachers is $45,530, 72% of what they could make checking the books of state government agencies. Our 46th-ranked average teacher pay of $56,328 is 74% of the average pay for middle-level DLA auditors with an average of 2.4 years of experience.
Openings are coming up in DLA. Olson said his office will see multiple retirements in the coming year, which he told Executive Board will allow DLA to realize salary savings. In anticipation of those savings, Olson requested zero increase in DLA’s FY2027 budget.