PIERRE - Gov. Mike Rounds said Friday that he likes parts of a South Dakota House plan to create a three-tiered system to improve teacher pay in the state

But he won't support it if lawmakers can't show him how to pay for it.

House Republican leader Larry Rhoden of Union Center said in response that the House bill did provide basic funding for the salary plan, even though lawmakers in the future would have to find more money.

That's the part Rounds doesn't like.

"You leave the tough part of the job to future legislators," the governor said during his weekly news conference.

The House on Thursday approved a bill to establish a minimum teacher salary of $30,000 and provide additional pay hikes through a three-level pay structure based on experience, regularly evaluated classroom skills and advanced education. A day earlier, the South Dakota Senate approved a plan with roughly the same goal. But it would try to raise teacher pay by increasing the amount of state aid to local school districts and requiring much of the increase to be for teacher pay.

Neither plan identifies a source of new revenue to cover the costs, Rounds said. And with the state budget squeezed by a sluggish economy, that money could be difficult to find, he said.

"I want to know where the ongoing revenue is that's going to pay the bill," he said.

Rhoden was surprised later in the day to hear that Rounds had spoken against the bill, since the governor's staffers had supported it earlier. Rounds said the recent amendments changed the bill in ways that were not fiscally responsible. He also contends that some local school districts haven't done enough with the millions of dollars added to the state aid to local schools in the past few years.

Rhoden said an existing $4 million state fund aimed at helping local school boards boost teacher pay would help establish the $30,000 minimum salary goal defined in HB1124. And lawmakers will search for other funding sources between now and when the bill becomes effective in 2011, he said.

That search already has begun and will continue through the remaining two weeks of the session, he said.

"Obviously, there's miles to go before we sleep," Rhoden said. "There's a lot of room for change in the bill."

There's also plenty of opportunity for the House to blend teacher-pay philosophies with the Senate bill, he said.

"The least to come out of this will be a great deal of conversation on raising teacher pay, to get people warming up to the idea of this," Rhoden said.

The House bill is headed for Senate action next week, while the Senate bill, SB187, heads for the House.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com.