PIERRE, S.D.(WNAX)- Finding and then paying teachers are challenges for many school districts.

Wade Pogany, Executive Director of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, says many small districts have had to increase their starting pay substantially.

During a recent meeting of the Teacher Compensation Board, Pogany raised a question about the number of students graduating from university education programs versus the number applying for teaching certificates.

Pogany says they don’t have a good answer for those differences.

Pogany says the Associated School Boards had over two hundred teaching openings on its list as of mid-July.