Noem failures are driving more educators from South Dakota

Teachers' wages in red states like South Dakota surf the bottom because Republicans are Balkanizing education amid a fight over ideological purity and in my home state academic freedom is under attack from a reactionary, Earth hating, self-dealing, authoritarian governor. Kristi Noem is directly responsible for the closing of Presentation College where many of South Dakota's teachers were trained.

New Associated School Boards of South Dakota Executive Director Heath Larson said that vacancies are up about 100 from the end of July last year to the same time this year. That’s been following a trend of rising openings each year with a little less than a month to the start of classes in the state. The total openings as of the end of July sat at 353, up from 256 the year prior. Before that, there were 225 headed into the 2022 school year. [Teacher vacancies up in South Dakota with new year around the corner]

Yes, pollution, crashes, blackouts, anthrax, Legionella, shigella, bovine TB, suicides, flooding, wildfires, hail, ecocide, crime, corruption, disease, drought, destruction, distrust and dependence: these are the Noem years. 

Learn more at South Dakota News Watch.

“If we continue to underfund (education) and pay our teachers last in the region, I’m not sure that’s going to improve morale or performance," he said. "But investing in our teachers, investing in education might be the kind of thing that turns those trends around." - Sen. Nesiba pic.twitter.com/E6uRbWqTDb

— SD Democratic Party (@SoDakDems) September 22, 2023