Chapter 41: South Dakota

South Dakota is a very rural state given its large land mass (77,115 sq. miles) and relatively small population. 2020 Census shows total residents of 884,659.¹ The education system has 149 public school districts, 47 non-public schools, and 19 tribal / Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Student enrollments have grown in recent years to approximately 139,000 K-12 public school students, and 14,500 non-public school students.²

Other education demographics include a teaching pool of approximately 9700 teachers and ?? administrators. Total state and local expenditure for K-12 education of $612 million general funds, $36 million in Capital Outlay funds, $150 million in Special Education.² 2019 average teacher salary is $48,984 with average total teacher compensation of $63,454.²