Teach For America bill passes South Dakota House

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota House members are supporting a bill that would establish a matching funds system to shore up the state's Teach For America program.

The bill would create a grant program with the Department of Education to expand funding for four years starting in July. Under this measure, the state would match private donations 3-1 over the four-year period.

Since its 2004 start on the South Dakota reservations of Pine Ridge and Rosebud, Teach For America has placed 57 teachers in the state's most rural communities. With more money, the number of educators is expected to grow to 100 by 2015.

Supporters say there aren't enough teachers from South Dakota universities willing to live on reservations, and the program helps fill education gaps between Native American and nontribal students.

Rapid City Republican Sen. Jacqueline Sly said schools on Native American reservations receive 0.8 applicants for every high school opening, and about one applicant for elementary level jobs.

She said the maximum dollar amount from the state has yet to be determined.

Sen. Mark Venner, R-Pierre, agreed on the program's importance.

“We're talking for the first time about extending a helping hand to our South Dakotan brothers who live in our American Indian communities,” Venner said. “The people who come here are fired up to go into these communities to make a difference for two to three years.”

The length of time these teachers stay in South Dakota shouldn't matter, so long as they help student achievement, Venner added.

Democratic Rep. Ed Iron Cloud of Porcupine said lawmakers should agree on bills that would invest in South Dakota students, regardless of whether they're “Native, non-Native, women or men.”

During the bill's progress through the House and Senate committees, participants in South Dakota's Teach For America have testified about the progress they've accomplished in the testing scores of their American Indian students.

The aim is also to expand the program on other South Dakota reservations.

The House voted 61-9 Tuesday, sending it back to the Senate.