Officials with South Dakota’s Technical Institutes are thankful for money the governor has given to update equipment and fund scholarships. The four presidents gave an overview to the Joint Appropriations Committee Tuesday morning. The four technical schools are still successful in preparing students for the workforce, despite funding challenges.
South Dakota’s technical institutes boast a 76 percent completion rate, with 90 percent of exams taken being passed. And after graduation, 97 percent are employed.
But officials say over the years, state aid to technical education has decreased, putting the burden on students. And with decreased funding means lack of opportunity to update and replace equipment as well. Representative Mark Mickelson says he’s seen these effects while touring Southeast Tech.
“The semi-trailer that they use for training is about 10 years old and it’s been wrecked. The piece of ultrasound equipment was gifted from Avera because it was two generations old—it was 15 years old and wasn’t really any good for what they were using now. I looked at him and said, ‘Well no wonder you have some issue recruiting because we’re not making the kind of investments to tell our kids this is important to us,” Mickelson says.
Technical school officials say they’d like to promote high-demand fields early on to change the perception and allow students to see the benefits of job availability and good pay.