Some of South Dakota’s athletic officials will be seeing a welcomed bump in pay come the 2026 high school season. At the Pierre School Board meeting on Monday, Pierre School District Business Manager Travis Dovre proposed raises for officials in football, softball and gymnastics. The motion was unanimously passed and will go into effect this upcoming fiscal year.
For varsity football officials, their pay will be increased from $125 to $150 per game, a rate established by the SDHSAA. Gymnastics score-flippers for an Eastern South Dakota meet will see an increase from $150 to $175, an increase driven by ESD schools. In softball, instead of paying umpires $55 for junior varsity and $75 for varsity, because so many umpires do both games, they will increase the total pay from $130 to $140 for the two-game set.
Mileage for varsity officials was also increased from 66 cents per mile to 70.
They also elected not to raise entry prices for activity entry fees and prices for events in the upcoming season. A year ago, this was not brought in front of the board because there were to be no changes, the same outcome this year. This is a motion that will be heard on an annual basis.
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