The South Dakota Alliance for Education is made up of education advocacy groups acting as a united catalyst for change. Grounded by the use of research and data, the Alliance is focused on delivering a state-wide public education system that creates the conditions necessary for South Dakota students to achieve.

Last Spring, the Alliance for Education took a step forward in a process to help establish a long-term solution to the funding problems facing South Dakota school districts. The Associated School Boards of South Dakota, on behalf of the Alliance for Education, contracted with APA Consulting to determine the actual cost of educating a child in South Dakota.

The research-driven adequacy study will give the Alliance and state government leadership the information needed to engage in meaningful discussions about changing how K-12 public education is funded in South Dakota.

In October 2005, the Alliance adopted a mission, which reads: The South Dakota Alliance for Education collectively advocates for increases in education funding to assure high and equitable achievement for all South Dakota public school students.

The South Dakota Alliance for Education - a union of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, the School Administrators of South Dakota, the South Dakota Education Association, the ESD Plus Six, Middle Schools Organization and South Dakota Coalition of Schools - plans to use data and research to help educate state policy makers and the public about what it truly takes to ensure every South Dakota school student achieves, today and into the future.