Oops, the Argus did it again.

Pat Powers

An e-mail went out this AM from the State Department of Ed to all K-12 email addresses across the state on the big Argus story on “Board making sure sales tax went to teacher pay.”

Basically, to let everyone know the Argus screwed it up.

Good morning,

You may have seen an article in the Argus Leader this morning indicating that the new money from the half-cent sales tax has resulted in an average teacher pay increase of about $1,000. The Department of Education did not provide that information to the newspaper. Unfortunately, the article compared data from the 2014-15 school year to data from the 2015-16 school year. So the dollar amounts that were compared in the chart that the newspaper created reflect data from BEFORE funds from the sales tax increase were available. (The Department of Education did not create the chart that ran with the article; the information is available in different locations on our website.)

What you should know: The 2015-16 school year will serve as the baseline year for measuring increases in teacher compensation. The data for 2016-17 is not yet available, so it’s too early to make comparisons. From what we have heard anecdotally, we expect the average increase to be significantly more than the $1,000 referenced in the article. But we will not know for certain until we have data from the 2016-17 school year.

A corrected version of the story is now online. We appreciate that the Argus Leader very quickly corrected the error.

Mary Stadick Smith
Director of Operations and Information
South Dakota Department of Education

They had a big chart and everything.. that’s no longer with the article, because it had nothing to do with the extra penny of sales tax.

15 thoughts on “Oops, the Argus did it again.”

  2. Me thinks the eyes of the Argus have been covered up by Mr. Lalley & Co.

    Or, they have truly stopped thinking. How smart do you have be to not have seen how literally goofy the article was?

    I think they should change their name to the “Sioux Falls Siren Leader”. *

    Look up Argus and Siren as they apply to mythology and you’ll get the double entendre. 🙂

  3. So what they are saying here is that the teachers already got an average pay raise of $1,000 per year BEFORE the monies from the sales tax increase are seen. I bet most of the employees in South Dakota wish they got that kind of raise.

    1. Yes, I’m sure with a 2.5% average pay raise, all the teachers will be buying penthouses and yachts this year.

      1. That’s not what I said. I said that most of the people in SD did not get a $1,000 pay raise last year. You can spin it for the poor teachers, and yes they are important, but so are many of the other jobs that average people have; but these other jobs do not have highly paid lobbyists and loud voices when it comes to their wages.

        1. Any statistics you’d care to cite that bears out your assertions? I don’t see a 2.5% raise as anything to write home about.

          1. Let’s see, at the nursing facility where I worked, from about 2002-2007 We got across the board annual raises of 50 cents an hour which worked out to about 2.5%. Starting in 2008 nobody got raises. No raises in 2009, or 2010 either. In 2011 we took a 2% pay cut. My staff was cut in half and the three of us who remained all sustained orthopedic injuries as a result of the increased workload. That’s when I decided to retire. By 2012 they were no longer able to make payroll and the business was sold. It’s still going so I hope it’s better.

            A 2.5% raise is better than none at all. It’s better than a pay cut. It’s better than staff cuts. It’s certainly better than no paycheck at all.

    1. Close to it. Right now the numbers that the lobbyists where telling me they would get from the tax increase will fall short.

      For August sales tax
      Rapid City down 2%
      Aberdeen down 8%
      Watertown down 7%
      Mitchell and Yankton down 4%

      The numbers are not lining up for the supporters of this tax increase.

      One last thing I was told that this tax increase, I was told this tax increase would cost me around $100 per year. It has been two months since the tax increase and it cost me around $40. Include the big ticket item and I am close to $100.

      It is interesting that I cannot find one of these supporters to have a conversation with in regards to this tax increase.

      Facts are a funny thing……………

      1. Mr. Neiloh, you were told it would cost you around $100. That is based upon the average spending by the average person in SD. Obviously you spend more than the average person. Thank you for helping the rest of us with our taxes.

      2. Just like criminal justice reform. When Daugaard leaves another governor will have a lot to fix.

  8. This newspaper in Sioux Falls really isn’t a newspaper anymore. It’s a gossip rag on paper. They get almost every fact wrong and spin everything to be negative. It’s OK, they will be out of business soon. Everybody hates that rag.

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