That Sioux Falls paper does some good journalism this weekend, posting results of its survey of South Dakota school districts on how they are coping with the Daugaard budget cuts. 74 of our 154 school districts responded, representing 75% of our K-12 student population.
One immediate impact: the responding school districts report cutting the equivalent of 266 full-time jobs. Those jobs cuts are split roughly equally between layoffs and attrition. That figure does not include the nearly 100 employees Sioux Falls has said it will shed by attrition. Nor does it include possible job losses at Rapid City.
So just among the districts providing job loss data for this survey, we see a 3.5% decrease in job opportunities. No wonder teachers are feeling under-appreciated.
Those districts are reducing staff even when, as a group, they are projecting a 0.5% increase in students enrollment. As a group, these districts will see a 3.7% increase in their student-to-teacher ratio.
The unavoidable conclusion: this coming school year, educated South Dakotans will have fewer chances to make a living here, and our children will have fewer opportunities to learn. The Daugaard budget cuts have made South Dakota's economy and education system worse.
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The Josh Verges article notes that many school districts are trying to ease the cuts by spending reserves, shifting money from capital outlay, and raising local taxes. If the fiscal picture doesn't brighten, and if Pierre doesn't start living up to its constitutional obligation to provide good public education, the next few years will bring more serious budget cuts.
Read more: I have linked the May 14 article and accompanying survey data at the bottom of my K-12 Education Cuts page.
Thanks for the work that you're doing on this issue. I think it's going to be a long few years for public schools.