Legislature passes teacher pay increase, adjusts ratio

Sioux Falls, SD (March 1, 2016)-

Today, the Senate reached a consensus on HB 1182, passing the ½ penny sales tax increase needed to raise teacher pay.

“It’s a great day for teachers. It’s a great day for South Dakota. The most important investment our state can make is in our students. I feel we accomplished a significant step toward that end today,” said Senate Minority Leader Billie Sutton.

The Senate first had to defeat an amendment from opponents of HB 1182 to reduce the tax increase to ¼ penny in a strategy to send the measure back to the House.

“We heard an awful lot of talk about making sure we don’t overburden the poor, but those same voices didn’t even consider the Democrats’ plan that was found to be substantially cheaper for those living in poverty and actually provided more money for education,” said Sutton.

Earlier in the day, SB 131, a measure to reconfigure the school funding formula, was successfully amended in the House Committee on Appropriations to adjust the new student-teacher ratio for small schools to 12:1 versus the original 12.5:1 ratio requested by the Governor.

Democrats considered the amendment critical to provide rural school districts the flexibility to achieve teacher numbers close to current levels while also improving pay.

“This was a change that Democrats pushed for to better the plan for our small districts. We’re close to finalizing an education policy for all South Dakota schools— both large and small,” Sutton said.

All Senate Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, consistent with Democrats long-time push for adequate funding of education in South Dakota.

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