Sioux Falls School District, Education Association reach agreement to raise teacher pay

The Sioux Falls School District and Sioux Falls Education Association have reached an agreement to raise the starting teacher salary, to give an additional 0.75% salary increase to all staff except for administration and to advance the salaries of teachers who’ve taught 13 or more years in the district.

Superintendent Jane Stavem said during the school board meeting Monday night that this move can be done through a memorandum of understanding (MOU), without a separate report made to the board or through a formal action by the board.

Stavem said the district has had an emphasis on increasing teacher compensation for a number of years, and noted it became a priority in the Legislature when it passed legislation this past session to make changes in the coming years.

Specifically, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 127, which requires districts to raise their average teacher compensation, which affects salary, by 97% of the increase approved by the Legislature and governor each year. It also requires each district to pay their teachers a salary at least equal to a new state minimum teacher salary of $45,000 starting in fiscal year 2025.

“Our team, along with SFEA and board members, have considered what would that look like if we went ahead and just made those changes for this upcoming year, knowing that that’s significant for our staff,” Stavem said.

She added the decision is good news.

SFEA President Tim Eckart said at the board meeting that it’s been harder to recruit new staff and retain current staff the last few years. This MOU raises starting teacher salaries and doesn’t forget veteran teachers, he said.

“This work, that we’ve done together here to help move that, shows value to those staff that have been here a long time,” Eckart said. “This does a great job for that right now.”

Starting teacher salaries have changed from $38,000 in fiscal year 2021 to $41,000 in fiscal year 2022, $46,000 in fiscal year 2023, $50,111 in fiscal year 2024 and now $51,716 in fiscal year 2025, which is an increase of 3.2% from the year prior. All totaled, the starting teacher salary has risen 36% in the district since fiscal year 2021 with this MOU.

More: Where major education bills stand as Legislature's main work ends until Veto Day

Beginning teachers will also be able to move up four extra steps on the salary schedule, which means second-year and third-year teachers could also step up the schedule if the district decides.

Staff with extra duty or extra pay, like coaching or directing positions, haven’t seen their pay move up a lot in the past 20 years, Eckart said. The district and SFEA have agreed to increase that pay pool by 15%.

Teachers with 13 years in the district and 17 total years of teaching, and teachers with 20 years in the district and 25 total years of teaching, can both advance to another salary step, which is a 2.5% increase for those staff on top of what’s given, Assistant Superintendent Jamie Nold said.

These changes total more than $2 million in additional support for salaries beyond what was negotiated initially, including $775,000 for the 0.75% increase already in the budget, $883,000 for lane changes for veteran staff in a future budget, and $300,000 for the extra duty and extra pay already in the budget, according to a document Eckart presented to the Argus Leader. It’s unknown what the beginning teacher lane changes could cost, all totaled.

Nold said the district appreciates the partnership it’s had with SFEA, and said the MOU will help the district to hire people into the right positions, increase the talent pool and the number of applications it will have.

Calendar changes also approved

The board also approved Monday a new last day of school for this year, and a calendar for the 2025-2026 school year.

The last day of school for students will be May 23, after the district had to cancel two days of school because of inclement weather Jan. 8-9. Staff will also have a workday May 24. The additional staff day will be fulfilled prior to the first contracted day for the next school year by completing an eight-hour district-provided virtual training.

The first day of the 2025-2026 school year will be Aug. 21, 2025, with no school on Oct. 13, 2025 for Native American Day, an early dismissal on Dec. 23, 2025, the end of the first semester on Jan. 9, 2026, no school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19, 2026, a compensatory day on March 20, 2026, graduation on May 17, 2026 and the last day of school on May 20, 2026.

Fine arts curriculum purchase

The school board also approved a $1,612,745 fine arts curriculum purchase for the 2024-2025 school year, with $338,080 for elementary school, $330,988 for middle school and $943,677 for high school.

Esports teams win tournament

Sioux Falls’ two esports teams were named champions during the weekend in the first-ever esports tournament in the state in two of the four game categories.

The district’s Red team, playing Rocket League, was initially ranked sixth but beat teams from Aberdeen, Flandreau, Tea and number one-ranked Dakota Valley “in a nail-biting seven games,” district fine arts coordinator Shane Wuebben said.

More: Sioux Falls will be one of 16 teams to compete in first-ever esports state tournament

The Inters team, playing League of Legends, was initially ranked second going into the tournament but beat teams from Tea, Deuel and number one-ranked Dakota Valley, which Inters beat “very quickly in the first of two of three games,” Wuebben said.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School District, Education Association agree to raise teacher pay