South Dakota lawmakers support a change to the minimum funding the state gives school districts each year. A bill on its way to the House floor increases the lowest funding for schools by less than half of one percent. The debate centers around schools’ ability to plan for the long term.
South Dakota law dictates a funding formula for public school districts. Right now, the statute gives schools three percent or the rate of inflation - whichever is less. House Bill 1003 adds an exception: that the lowest amount of money for schools may not be less than two percent.
The bill comes from an education summer study. State Senator Billie Sutton is on that panel.
"We constantly heard the need for stability from our administrators and superintendents, and this is just one way to do that," Sutton says. "This is just one way to say, 'You know, we're going to commit to giving you a reasonable base that you can count on and that we'll follow every year.'"
Sutton and other supporters say schools are working to recover from funding cuts several years ago. In 2010, schools received no increase. In 2011, the per-student allocation dropped more than 8 percent.
State economist Jim Terwilliger says South Dakota doesn’t need the change, because lawmakers can give schools more than the minimum inflation increase when the money is there.
"In fact, if you include Fiscal Year 15, because the governor’s proposing three percent while the index factor is only calling for 1.6 percent, out of last 12 years, eight of the times we have deviated from what the index factor suggests in state law," Terwilliger says.
Terwilliger testifies against House Bill 1003. Representative Scott Ecklund says he sees the numbers support the change.
"As a school district trying to plan, if we're deviating on a regular basis except for the worst economic turndown in my lifetime, it's continually over the two percent. I think it's easier for a large entity such as the school districts to be able to plan on that two percent," Ecklund says.
Ecklund says lawmakers can amend the law if money is scarce and school districts can adjust their budgets then.
A majority of lawmakers on the committee supports the law to give schools a minimum of two percent more funding each year. The committee approves House Bill 1003 by a vote of 11 to 4. It moves to the House floor.