South Dakota
‘Puts accountability in place’: Bill tying teacher pay to state funding passes House – South Dakota Searchlight
A bill tying teacher pay to annual increases in state funding passed the state House of Representatives with a 58-9 vote Tuesday.
The bill, which now heads to a Senate committee, is a result of South Dakota drifting back down near the bottom in average teacher salary compared to the rest of the United States. The bill also aims to follow through on promises made to teachers when the Legislature passed a half-percentage-point increase in the state sales tax rate in 2016 to raise teacher salaries. Last year, legislators and Gov. Kristi Noem reduced the state sales tax rate from 4.5% to 4.2%.
Rep. Kristin Conzet, the newly appointed Republican lawmaker from Rapid City, served in the Legislature in the years leading up to the sales tax increase and supported the effort.
“Careers ended over that tax increase. People weren’t voted back in. We did what was best for our teachers,” Conzet said Tuesday on the House floor. “What did not happen and what the intent was of raising that sales tax was to go directly to teachers. It wasn’t to go to the administration; it wasn’t to backfill student losses. … This puts accountability in place. This puts teeth in what was supposed to be taken care of in that all-out battle six, seven years ago.”
The legislation would set a statewide minimum teacher salary of $45,000, beginning July 1, 2026. That minimum standard would increase each year by a percentage equal to the annual increase in state education funding approved by the Legislature and governor.
The bill would also require schools to raise their average teacher compensation — including pay and benefits — by percentages equal to annual increases in state funding. That requirement would begin with the 2025 fiscal year.
Beyond the regular annual increases in state education funding, schools would not receive additional state funding to comply with the mandates. Noem has recommended a 4% increase in state funding for the next state budget.
While nobody testified against the legislation during its committee hearing last week, several lobbyists representing the education community called it a work in progress.
Some lawmakers expressed concern on the House floor, saying that the bill needed more work to earn support from school district superintendents – especially those expecting enrollment decreases in the future, which could result in a decrease in state funding to those school districts.
Rep. Rocky Blare, R-Winner, said he is worried for the future if other costs increase, such as insurance, gas prices or other staff salaries. He said the legislation would limit school districts’ ability to cover those needs.
“I think this bill needs to be looked at, needs to be refined, needs to be better,” Blare said, as one of the few legislators to vote against the bill.
But Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, who worked with an informal group tasked with rewriting an earlier version of the bill, said it’s time to hold school districts accountable, even if it’s “not a perfect bill.”
The legislation, Stevens said, would force school districts to tackle declining enrollment without sacrificing teacher pay by combining classes, closing schools, consolidating schools, passing an opt out of property tax limitations, using reserves, reducing staff or reducing services.
“If we have to make hard decisions,” Stevens said, alluding to lawmakers making cuts to fit a balanced budget each year, “everybody else does too.”
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RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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