Governor awards $500,000 to program converting paraprofessionals to teachers

South Dakota’s governor awarded money from an economic development fund he controls to a teacher apprenticeship program, which is intended to continue reducing the teacher shortage across the state.

Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden announced a $500,000 Future Fund award for the South Dakota Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway program on Monday. The funding will add 31 spots to the program’s upcoming cohort. The state recently closed applications for the original 40 spots.

The program, started in 2023, allows full-time paraprofessionals — sometimes called teacher’s aides — to pursue a teaching degree online through Dakota State University in elementary or special education, or through Northern State University in secondary education, at a steep discount while retaining their position. 

Rhoden’s announcement expands the upcoming cohort to 71 participants.

“Our teacher apprenticeship program is a proven model that supports our teachers and our communities by developing more certified teachers and keeping educators in our schools,” Rhoden said in a news release.

Laura Scheibe, spokesperson for the state Education Department, said the state has received 209 applications. She added that the governor’s specific funding for 31 additional spots was because “it was clear there are 71 strong candidates.”

The state gets money for the Future Fund by charging a fee to employers. They pay the fee when they submit payroll taxes that support unemployment benefits. 

$4 million for gunsmithing program is latest economic development grant from governor amid campaign

Rhoden, who is running to keep his job, recently committed $4 million from the fund to bring a gunsmithing program to Western Dakota Technical College and $6 million to establish a South Dakota Defense Institute in Rapid City.

The $500,000 teacher apprenticeship grant brought the unobligated balance of the Future Fund to $23.9 million, said a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

State law says only that the fund “must be used for purposes related to research and economic development for the state,” but that’s about to change. Lawmakers approved new restrictions earlier this year, in response to past uses of the fund by Rhoden’s predecessor, former Gov. Kristi Noem. Rhoden was elevated from lieutenant governor after Noem resigned in January 2025 to become secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Noem’s controversial uses of the Future Fund included a fireworks show at Mount Rushmore, the construction of a state-owned shooting range near Rapid City that legislators refused to fund, a rodeo in Sioux Falls where Noem carried the American flag into the arena on horseback, and a workforce recruitment advertising campaign that featured Noem as the star.

Rhoden signed the legislative Future Fund reforms into law in March, but they won’t take effect until July 1 — after the June 2 primary election pitting Rhoden against three opponents for the Republican nomination. 

The reforms add legal definitions for acceptable uses of the fund, mandate more reporting to legislators about awards, specify the information required of applicants, direct the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to formulate rules for the fund’s use, and require the office to make recommendations to the governor about potential awards.

The announcement of funding for the teacher apprenticeship program comes after 48 people graduated from it last weekend. Since the launch of the program, it has produced 118 graduates.

State opens applications for 40 more slots in teacher apprenticeship program

State Secretary of Education Joseph Graves said he’s visited current students and graduates to “see the impact they are making in their classrooms.”

“I am incredibly grateful for Governor Rhoden’s commitment to strengthening the future of education and empower the next generation of teachers,” Graves said in a news release.

Statewide, 144 teaching positions were unfilled as of July last year, weeks before the school year started, according to the Associated School Boards of South Dakota. That’s the lowest number in recent years: There were 202 unfilled positions in July 2024, 256 in 2023, 225 in 2022 and 174 in 2021.

Twelve of the 48 graduates this month have signed contracts with South Dakota schools so far, including Tri-Valley, Irene-Wakonda, Canton, Elk Mountain, Langford Area, Meade, Plankinton, Douglas, Bon Homme, Britton-Hecla, Sioux Falls and Wakpala.

“We anticipate this number will continue to grow but we will not know full results until our fall data collection is complete,” Scheibe said.

Of the recent graduates, 19 earned a degree in elementary education, 16 in special education, 12 in elementary and special education, and one in English Language Arts at the high school level.

The Department of Education started the apprenticeship program, but it is currently funded through the state Department of Labor and Regulation with a combination of state and federal grants to reimburse universities for the discounted portion of tuition and other programming. 

School districts pay $1,000 a year per apprentice. Apprentices are responsible for up to $1,000 a year in tuition, books and state assessments.