South Dakota has a teacher shortage problem. One third of the state's teaching graduates hit the road to take teaching jobs out of state.

A survey of the state's college programs for aspiring teachers was conducted recently by the School Administrators of South Dakota. What they found is more than 770 college students earned a teaching degree at a South Dakota institution. Of those, 260 found jobs out of state.

One of the big reasons the shortage exists is new teaching grads are departing South Dakota because of the low wages the state pays its educators. That according to according to Rob Monson, executive director of the School Administrators of South Dakota.

Monson says, "Students are going to try to make the most amount of money they can. They're certainly going to migrate."

The average reached makes about $40,000 a year in South Dakota, the lowest in the nation, according to the National Education Association.

South Dakota has 151 school districts competing for the college graduates who remain in the state, that amounts to about three teaching graduates for each district, according to Monson.

Check this out: even if every student graduating from college with a teaching degree stayed in South Dakota, the number would still be 300 fewer than the number of teachers who are eligible for retirement, according to Monson.

How bout them apples. Kinda scary huh?

Source: Rapid City Journal

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