Sioux Falls School District students learn in a classroom. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District)
A South Dakota board voted on Thursday to expand teaching scholarships for areas of critical need to cover all prospective K-12 teachers, in response to teacher shortages around the state.
Currently, South Dakota’s Critical Teaching Needs Scholarship targets college students studying for specific teaching fields such as special education, high school math and science, and career and technical education. Awardees must maintain a 2.8 grade-point average and teach in the state for five years.
“You could argue that any certified teaching position, right now, remains in a shortage,” state Department of Education Secretary Joseph Graves said during the virtual meeting of the Critical Teaching Needs Scholarship Board.
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State officials presented data showing persistent turnover and vacancies across nearly all teaching disciplines. At the end of the 2023-24 school year, public school districts reported 1,178 full-time equivalent instructors no longer employed, and at the start of the current school year, 137 full-time equivalent teaching positions were unfilled statewide.
The scholarship board agreed that narrowing eligibility no longer makes sense when most districts are struggling to attract applicants.
Parkston Superintendent Patrick Mikkonen said “there is just no candidate pool” for his school district in southeastern South Dakota.
“I can’t get anything, as far as an applicant,” he told the board.
The board approved a motion to open the scholarship to all K-12 teacher education students and to make it auto-renewable for recipients who maintain the required GPA. Currently, students have to reapply after the first year.
Twelve students were awarded a combined total of $120,732 in scholarships for the 2023-24 school year, an average of about $10,000 per student. The funding comes from interest earned on the state’s Education Enhancement Trust Fund.
The state’s Critical Teaching Needs Scholarship application window opens on Nov. 1 and closes on Dec. 15.
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