SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Over 10% of South Dakota teachers left their jobs last year, Vital Network, an education consulting agency, told the South Dakota Senate Education Committee Thursday.
Joseph Graves, the South Dakota Secretary of Education gave an overview about teacher shortages to the committee. The presentation was paired with findings from Vital Network on teacher recruitment and retention in the state and nationwide.
“Almost 10% of your educators leaving in a given year is alarming, but I think also something that we can address,” Vital Network CEO Nathan Eklund told the committee.
According to a study by the consulting group, more than 1,000 South Dakota teachers– nearly 10%– left their jobs last year. Most were employed by another school district in the state, but 17% left education altogether, 16% retired, 15% relocated and 5% were employed by out of state school districts.
Despite this, Graves said the teacher shortage in South Dakota has lessened over the last few years. With only 143 teacher vacancies in July 2025, that is down 29% from July 2024.
“We’re making headway. We’re not there yet, but things are definitely moving in the right direction,” Graves said.
Graves said they are addressing the teacher shortage by creating a program for paraprofessionals to get their teacher certification, grants to pay for student teachers, a mentoring program that pairs teachers together, resources for trade professionals to get education experience through CTE and Educators Rising, which encourages young students to become teachers.
Eklund said nationally, 50% of educators leave within the first three years of teaching. They work to find ways to recruit and retain teachers.
“Our work is really to make sure that the educators we have and our recruiting have a viable, rewarding, and collaborative experience and that they don’t want to leave K-12, he said.
Graves said teacher salaries have also increased in South Dakota with a minimum salary of $45,000, which was decided on during the last legislative session. This increase moved South Dakota up from 49th to 46th in teacher pay.
However, Erin Raab, chief strategy and impact officer at Vital, said from its research in North Dakota, teachers who left teaching were going to jobs with lower salaries, but other benefits outweighed the pay.
“Sixty six percent of teachers who left the profession said work-life balance was better,” she said. “Almost 60% of teachers who left said their workload was more manageable in a new job, and that teachers with unsupportive administrators, they’re more than twice as likely to leave their school.”
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