Education

An educator works with students at Cleveland Elementary School. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District)

Gap grows between targeted and actual teacher pay

BY: - July 17, 2023

Schools are lagging the state’s target pay for teachers, and the gap is growing, according to data shared with a state board in Pierre. That’s despite the 2016 Legislature’s efforts to address the problem by increasing the state’s sales tax by half a percentage point. This year, the Legislature reduced the state sales tax by […]

An educator works with students at Cleveland Elementary School. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District)

International hires & ‘grow your own’ programs: Schools seek solutions to teacher shortage

BY: - July 14, 2023

Oglala Lakota County schools had zero applications for more than 25 open teacher positions earlier this year. Superintendent Connie Kaltenbach said the school district advertised the positions for months locally, across the state and nationally. But there weren’t any bites. So she turned to the international market. Starting this fall, 26 Filipino teachers will likely […]

Student loan borrowers stage a rally in front of the White House to celebrate President Biden cancelling student debt and to begin the fight to cancel any remaining debt on Aug. 25, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We the 45m)

US Supreme Court rules against Biden administration student loan debt relief plan

BY: - June 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Biden administration does not have the legal authority to enact a one-time student debt relief program, dealing a blow to the 40 million Americans who would have qualified. Last year, the Biden Administration rolled out a debt forgiveness plan for borrowers with federal student […]

An apartment complex on the Rosebud Reservation has drifts of snow blocking the doors and windows on Dec. 27, 2022. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

SD school districts find compromise between snow days and online learning post-COVID

BY: - April 26, 2023

Whether they sleep with a spoon under their pillow or turn their pajamas inside out – two rituals purported to bring about a snow day – South Dakota students haven’t lost the magic of a serendipitous day off from school. And if school districts across the state have anything to say about it, they’ll always […]

Students get their l lunch at a primary school in Atlanta, Georgia. (Amanda Mills/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

A pandemic experiment in universal free school meals gains traction in the states

BY: - April 23, 2023

WASHINGTON —  Every public school kid in the United States was eligible for free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of family income, thanks to the federal government. While that’s now ended, a growing number of states across the country are enacting universal school meal laws to bolster child food security and academic equity. […]

Teachers of the Oceti Sakowin Community Academy gift backpacks to their inaugural class of kindergarten students in September 2022. (Courtesy of NDN Collective)

States were adding lessons about Native American history. Then came the anti-CRT movement

BY: - April 18, 2023

When the debate over teaching race-related concepts in public schools reached Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart’s home state of South Dakota, she decided she couldn’t in good conscience send her youngest daughter to kindergarten at a local public school. “I knew that the public school system would not benefit my child without the important and critical history […]

The Nebraska Board of Education discusses which of its three finalists it should offer the job of education commissioner. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

Former head of SD university system selected as Nebraska education commissioner

BY: - March 31, 2023

OMAHA — The Nebraska Board of Education looked north for its next education commissioner Friday, but not before exposing board divisions over his selection and how he was chosen. A 5-3 majority chose Brian Maher, former executive director of the South Dakota Board of Regents and a former superintendent in Kearney, Neb.; Utica, Neb.; and […]

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana speaks during a congressional committee hearing on March 23, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Committee video screenshot)

DOJ memo on threats to local school boards lambasted by Republicans at U.S. House hearing

BY: - March 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Thursday continued to press accusations that a “woke agenda” is deteriorating parents’ rights in their local school districts. The first hearing this Congress of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government convened to examine whether a 2021 Department of Justice memo played a role in […]

Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, on the House floor during the 2023 legislative session at the Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight)

Senate committee kills ‘lewd or lascivious’ drag show bill

BY: - February 28, 2023

A bill that would ban “lewd or lascivious” content at state institutions and public schools died in the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday morning. The bill, introduced by Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, previously passed the House with a 60-10 vote. It was amended in a House committee to allow the South Dakota Board of […]

Retired teachers, educators and community members lined the sidewalks outside The Rushmore Hotel in Rapid City on Feb. 10, 2023, protesting the proposed social studies standards ahead of the latest state Board of Education meeting. (Courtesy of South Dakota Education Association)

Opponents urge board to ‘go back to the drawing board’ for social studies standards

BY: - February 10, 2023

The public had a third opportunity to speak to the South Dakota Board of Education about proposed changes to the state’s social studies standards on Friday at The Rushmore Hotel in Rapid City, and many used the opportunity to criticize the current draft. Wade Pogany, executive director of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, […]

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents rights,’ school vouchers and transgender athletes

BY: - February 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum.  The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for […]

(Photo by lisapics/Getty Images)

A watchdog says the feds aren’t doing enough to investigate problem colleges

BY: - January 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — Incomplete written guidelines and penalties that had not been updated since 2016.  Significant turnover and reductions among staff.  Changing agency priorities and department probes put “on hold.”  Over the past six years, these problems have stifled the U.S. Department of Education’s investigations team that is supposed to probe colleges that misrepresent themselves to […]