POSITIONS ON 2014 PENDING LEGISLATION BY THE SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT

Transcription

1 Sioux Falls Legislators District 9 Deb Peters, Paula Hawks, Steve Hickey District 10 Shantel Krebs, Don Haggar, Jenna Haggar District 11 David M Omdahl, Christine M. Erickson, Jim Stalzer District 12 Blake Curd, Hal Wick, Manny Steele District 13 Phyllis Heineman, Steve Westra, G. Mark Mickelson District 14 Deb Soholt, Marc Feinstein, Anne Hajek District 15 Angie Buhl-O Donnell, Karen L. Soli, Patrick Kirschman LEGEND Color Key Updated Positions not yet approved by School Board Passed both houses Dead Key Bills House Bill 1001 Introduced by: Representatives Sly, Dryden, Duvall, Haggar (Don), Haggar (Jenna), Hajek, and Verchio and Senators Tidemann and Hunhoff (Jean) at the request of the Interim Education Funding Formula Study Committee Todd Vik An Act to gradually reduce, over a period of four years, the percentage of capital outlay funds that school districts may use for certain expenses. This bill phases out the expanded use of capital outlay funds for expenses such as property/ casualty insurance from between now and FY18, instead of just completely ending the use in FY18. The District supports this bill. By phasing the allowable expenses out over the next four years, it will reduce the temptation to continue to move back the sunset of the expanded use of the capital outlay funds. House Bill 1002 Introduced by: Representatives Sly, Dryden, Duvall, Haggar (Don), Hajek, and Tyler and Senators Tidemann, Hunhoff (Jean), Sutton, and Welke at the request of the Interim Education Funding Formula Study Committee Todd Vik An Act to revise the state aid to general education formula to include an adjustment for certain school districts that increase the length of the school term. This bill adds six percent (6%) to the state aid formula over the next five years if a school district increases its school term by 60 hours and is accompanied by an increase in academic achievement based on graduation rates and standardized tests as determined by SD Department of Education rules. The District opposes this bill as written. The District supports the concept of adding days (hours) to the school term and paying for those additional days. However, the bill should be amended because it could create up to 480 different minimum school terms in the state to maximize a district s state aid (currently there are three that apply universally to the state s 160 school districts: KG, 1-3, and 4-12). The bill is trying to make every school increase its hours over current practice and not pay those schools that are already over the minimum extra state aid without them having to increase the school term. In addition to being unwieldy, if passed this bill would be inherently unfair because a school that, for instance, already has all-day/every-day kindergarten with a total of 970 Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 1

2 hours would have to add 60 hours for a total of 1,030 to get the full state aid, while a school that only had 485 hours would only need to go to 545 (less than half of the other school) to get the full state aid. Finally, while it can be expected that adding days/hours of instruction to the calendars will yield positive academic results, no valid or reliable assessment is necessarily going to show definitively indicate those results immediately. The suggested amendment is to increase state aid by six percent (6%) and add six percent (6%) to the minimum required hours for each grade span, drop the requirement for achieving academic increases each year to receive the additional funding, and have the Department of Education study the impact of increased instructional time at a future date. House Bill 1003 Introduced by: Representatives Sly, Dryden, Duvall, Haggar (Don), Haggar (Jenna), Hajek, Tyler, and Verchio and Senators Tidemann, Hunhoff (Jean), Sutton, Van Gerpen, and Welke at the request of the Interim Education Funding Formula Study Committee Todd Vik An act to revise the definition of the index factor in the state aid to education formula to include a minimum annual percentage increase of two percent. This bill states that the general fund state aid index factor can never be less than 2 percent. The District supports this bill. The current law is 3% or inflation, whichever is less. This creates and artificial ceiling without the protection of an artificial floor. Since the inception of the state aid formula and over each of the three separate administrations that have occupied the Governor s Office during that time, state aid increases have lagged significantly behind the growth in the rest of state government. This bill will not rectify the chronic underfunding of the state aid formula, but it will at least prevent the specter of, for instance a 1.6 percent (1.6%) increase in state aid (without a law change) while the rest of state government is recommended to grow 7.8 percent (7.8%) as is the case this year. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 2

3 House Bill 1004 Introduced by: Representatives Sly, Hajek, Tyler, and Verchio and Senators Tidemann, Bradford, Sutton, Van Gerpen, and Welke at the request of the Interim Education Funding Formula Study Committee Todd Vik An Act to set the per student allocation in the state aid to general education formula for school fiscal year This bill sets the general fund state aid per student allocation at $4,805 for FY15. This is equal to the per student amount in FY11, before the 8.6 percent (8.6%) cut that was implemented in the first year of the Daugaard Administration. This would represent a 3.8 percent (3.8%) increase over the FY14 allocation. The District supports this bill. While State Government is up significantly since the onset of this administration (Medicaid +33.7%, State government excluding Medicaid and State Aid +16%, State Government FTE +2%, State salaries and benefits per FTE +17.7%), Governor Daugaard s recommended increase in the per student allocation of three percent (3%) still leaves the per student allocation 0.8 percent (0.8%) below what it was in FY11. This bill simply returns the allocation to the FY11, which does not come close the growth in the rest of state government as recommended by the Governor. House Bill 1005 Introduced by: Representatives Sly, Dryden, Duvall, Haggar (Don), Haggar (Jenna), and Hajek and Senators Tidemann, Hunhoff (Jean), and Novstrup (Al) at the request of the Interim Education Funding Formula Study Committee Sharon Schueler An Act to appropriate funding to provide technology-oriented professional development for teachers. The Department of Education will receive $2,850,000 distributed to school districts on a per-teacher basis to provide two days of technology-oriented professional development to teachers. The District takes no position on this bill; however, this money should be put in the per-pupil spending so that districts can use the money for the specific needs of their district. (HB 1005 died on 1/31 reconsidered on 2/5) Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 3

4 House Bill 1007 Introduced by: Representatives Dryden, Cronin, Magstadt, Mickelson, and Wismer and Senators Tidemann, Brown, Heineman (Phyllis), and Lucas at the request of the Interim Committee on Government Operations and Audit Todd Vik An Act to revise certain provisions concerning the deposit of forfeited foundation program funds. This bill strikes the provision in law stating that the fines levied on schools for delinquent state aid reports are deposited into the foundation program fund. The District supports this bill. This is simply cleanup language because depositing funds in the foundation program fund never meant those funds were redistributed to other school districts. House Bill 1008 Introduced by: Representatives Dryden, Cronin, Magstadt, Mickelson, and Wismer and Senators Tidemann, Brown, Heineman (Phyllis), and Lucas at the request of the Interim Committee on Government Operations and Audit Todd Vik An Act to repeal the foundation program fund. This bill repeals the foundation program fund. The District supports this bill. This bill is simply deletes and obsolete state aid statute. House Bill 1011 Introduced by: Representatives Munsterman, Conzet, Gosch, Sly, and Wismer and Senators Vehle, Brown, Jones (Tom), Maher, Rampelberg, and Sutton at the request of the Legislative Planning Committee Jeff Holcomb An Act to provide that certain information regarding postsecondary technical institutes be given to parents and guardians of students in middle schools and high schools. This bill will allow the technical institutes access to the names of secondary students. The District supports this bill. Per statute, the Board of Regents receives this information upon request on an annual basis. The technical institutes would like the same opportunity to promote post-secondary technical education to all eligible high school students. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 4

5 House Bill 1031 Introduced by: The Committee on Education at the request of the Department of Education Deb Muilenburg-Wilson An Act to revise certain provisions related to the definition of and the diagnosing of autism and to revise the definition of a level five disability for purposes of state aid for special education funding. This bill repeals some language that is out of date and other language that is addressed through ARSD. It also adds current reference language. The District supports this bill. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition was released late last summer titling autism spectrum disorders so this bill updates to current language. The repealing of includes removing detailed language on assessment that is outlined in the Administrative Rules of South Dakota. This bill does NOT change current evaluation practices or special education funding regarding autism. It will allow the Department to convene a study group to review the DSM-V language and South Dakota eligibility criteria for autism. Any changes will follow the ARSD rules which include a fiscal impact study of the change for the State and LEAs as well as public hearings for rules. House Bill 1032 Introduced by: The Committee on Education at the request of the Department of Education Deb Muilenburg-Wilson An Act to revise certain provisions regarding children placed in residential treatment centers or intensive residential treatment centers. This bill clarifies the original intent of the current statute. The District supports this bill. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 5

6 House Bill 1033 Introduced by: The Committee on Education at the request of the Department of Education Sue Simons An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the open enrollment application review process of siblings of open enrolled students. This bill provides an exception to consideration of the order open enrollment applications are received in order to better accommodate siblings seeking open enrollment and to ensure that students within the same household are not split between two schools. The District supports this bill. The current law requires that open enrollment applications be considered in the order in which they are received. In addition for out of district applications, if one sibling is accepted all (except those in need of special education) must be accepted. This requirement has created numerous situations in which an application is approved but solely to the timing of the application, students are placed at different schools within the District. The District brought this issue to the attention of the Department of Education and appreciates the support of the Department in addressing this issue. House Bill 1067 Introduced by: Representatives Olson (Betty), Kaiser, Kopp, and May and Senators Maher, Jensen, and Monroe Sharon Schueler An Act to require students in grades one and two to be tested before being promoted to the next grade. This bill would require that every year each elementary school would assess each student in grade one and grade two to measure the level of each student's achievement to determine if the student should be promoted to the next grade. The District opposes this bill. Any decision to retain a student should be made with considerations involving ability and maturity and with parental involvement not the scores from one achievement test. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 6

7 House Bill 1071 Introduced by: Representatives Otten (Herman), Ecklund, Haggar (Don), Haggar (Jenna), Hawks, Heinemann (Leslie), Hickey, Hoffman, Johns, Latterell, Magstadt, Rozum, Sly, Tulson, Werner, and Wick and Senators Rave, Holien, Otten (Ernie), Peters, and Welke Todd Vik An Act to change the procedure for a minor boundary change. This bill adds a new section requiring four more pieces of information to be included in the request for a minor boundary: 1) the potential value of the land if it was fully developed based on zoning, nearest city s proposed zoning, and the nearest city s ten year plan; 2) whether the potential value will exceed two percent (2%); 3) the ownership interests in the land; and 4) the map of the request must include all contiguous land owned by the petitioners that is not included in the request. It does not change the any of factors that must be present for a minor boundary change to be allowable. House Bill 1075 Introduced by: Representatives Bolin, Anderson, Campbell, Craig, Ecklund, Greenfield, Haggar (Don), Haggar (Jenna), Hickey, Kaiser, Kopp, Latterell, May, Nelson, Olson (Betty), Qualm, Rasmussen, Russell, Schoenfish, Stalzer, Steele, Tyler, Verchio, and Wick and Senators Jensen, Begalka, Lederman, Omdahl, and Otten (Ernie) Sharon Schueler An Act to provide for public notice of certain hearings conducted by the Board of Education, and to require that the hearings be conducted at least sixty days apart. This bill requires that whenever there is any educational initiative that proposes multistate educational standards that are binding on South Dakota schools, the Board of Education shall conduct, over a period of one year, at least four public hearings to be held in Aberdeen, Pierre, Rapid City, and Sioux Falls. Given the concerns expressed by a portion of the citizens at the local, state and national levels regarding the Common Core Standards, public hearings would provide a vehicle for public engagement in the process Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 7

8 House Bill 1078 Introduced by: Representatives Tyler, Hawks, Parsley, Rasmussen, Ring, Schoenfish, Soli, and Verchio and Senators Lucas and Jones (Tom) Sharon Schueler An Act to revise the eligibility requirements for the South Dakota opportunity scholarship to include certain students who reside in bordering states. HB1078 is setting parameters for students to qualify for the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship. The requirements allow more students to qualify this bill opens the SDOS to students of surrounding states (resided in a bordering state that has an open enrollment or a tuition regulation agreement with the State of South Dakota pursuant to chapter 13-28A)...not just South Dakota high school graduates. Current requirements list no grades below a C qualify and a student must have a GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0. This bill eliminates these requirements. House Bill 1085 Introduced by: Representatives Lust, Conzet, Cronin, Gosch, Munsterman, Sly, Westra, and Wink and Senators Rave, Brown, Holien, Maher, and Rhoden Todd Vik An Act to revise certain property tax levies for the general fund of school districts. This is a place holder for the annual Cutler/Gabriel adjustment for the general fund. The Department of Education has already submitted this adjustment in SB37. House Bill 1086 Introduced by: Representatives Wick, Conzet, Cronin, Dryden, Duvall, Ecklund, Erickson, Gosch, Haggar (Jenna), Hawley, Hickey, Hoffman, Magstadt, Munsterman, Novstrup (David), Otten (Herman), Parsley, Rounds, Rozum, Sly, Solum, Steele, Tulson, Verchio, and Westra and Senators Kirkeby, Holien, Hunhoff (Jean), Jensen, Jones (Tom), Lederman, Peters, Rave, Tidemann, and White Todd Vik An Act to create a leased residential property classification and to establish the school district general fund levy for the property classification. This bill creates a new property classification of leased residential property and assigns it the same levy as commercial property (leased residential property is currently classified as commercial). Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 8

9 House Bill 1088 Introduced by: Representatives Johns, Campbell, Rounds, Sly, Stevens, Tulson, and Wink and Senators Ewing, Kirkeby, Monroe, and Omdahl Todd Vik An Act to repeal the reduction in general state aid for funds received from the gaming commission fund. This bill changes Deadwood gambling revenue received by the Lead-Deadwood School District so that it is considered outside the general state aid formula instead of essentially local effort (as it is now, therefore reducing state aid on a dollar of dollar basis.) House Bill 1089 Introduced by: Representatives Johns, Campbell, Ring, Romkema, Sly, Stevens, Tulson, and Wink and Senators Ewing, Jones (Chuck), Kirkeby, Monroe, Omdahl, and Van Gerpen Todd Vik An Act to allow certain school districts that do not receive state aid to education to receive funding for certain students with limited English proficiency. This bill enables the Lead-Deadwood School District, which currently does not receive general fund state aid due to its tax base, to receive state aid for ELL students. House Bill 1093 Introduced by: Representatives Hoffman, Erickson, Haggar (Don), Kopp, Langer, Novstrup (David), Tulson, Verchio, and Werner and Senators Monroe and Lederman Bob Jensen An Act to prohibit public schools from starting a school term before the last Monday in August. This bill would prohibit public schools from starting a school term before the last Monday in August. The District opposes this bill because it takes away each district s local control to set a school year calendar that best meets the needs of the students, parents, and district patrons. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 9

10 House Bill 1098 Introduced by: Representatives Bolin, Campbell, Ecklund, Feickert, Gibson, Greenfield, Haggar (Jenna), Hawks, Hawley, Heinert, Hunhoff (Bernie), Kaiser, Kirschman, May, Nelson, Olson (Betty), Parsley, Peterson, Qualm, Russell, Schrempp, Stalzer, Steele, Tyler, and Verchio and Senators Jensen, Begalka, Frerichs, and Omdahl Todd Vik An Act to provide for the election of the secretary of education. This bill would provide for the election of the secretary of education. House Bill 1104 Introduced by: Representatives Rozum and Heinert and Senators Kirkeby and Buhl O'Donnell Todd Vik An Act to allow local governing bodies to require the payment for certain goods and services by electronic transaction. This bill is allows local governments to require their vendors to accept electronic payment for goods and services. House Bill 1115 Introduced by: Representatives Munsterman, Hawley, Hunhoff (Bernie), Magstadt, Novstrup (David), and Solum and Senators Tidemann, Frerichs, Holien, Jones (Chuck), and Kirkeby Todd Vik An Act to revise the purposes for which the workforce education fund shall be used. This bill adds an OSHA consultation program component to the law (the law currently funds ELL and additional one-time funding to districts). Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 10

11 House Bill 1124 Introduced by: Representatives Johns, Ring, Romkema, Sly, Stevens, and Tulson and Senators Ewing, Holien, Jones (Chuck), Kirkeby, Krebs, Lucas, Monroe, and Tieszen Todd Vik An Act to create the South Dakota school safety fund to assist certain school districts in enhancing school safety, and to make an appropriation therefor. This bill creates a $5 million School Safety Fund to be dispersed as dollar for dollar matching competitive grants to school districts who have developed emergency response plans as follows: (1) One million dollars for retaining school resource officers ($1,000,000); (2) Two million dollars for training and technical assistance or for facility security enhancements, or both, to help ensure the safety of students; and (3) One million dollars for hiring additional school counselors, school psychologists, or other mental health professionals if the school districts demonstrate a need for the additional personnel as determined by the secretary of education. Presumably the last million dollars is to remain in the fund and draw interest for future grants The Board of Education will develop rules for determining the criteria for awarding grants. The District opposes this bill. While this bill is well meaning, half of the specified $4 million in uses is for ongoing expenditures while the funding is not explicitly ongoing. Making the funding ongoing would depend on future legislative appropriations and multi-year grant approval via the SD Board of Education rules, both of which are very unclear at this point. If there are ongoing funds available, those dollars should be used to increase the per pupil amount in the general fund formula as opposed to creating a categorical competitive aid program funding projects with ongoing expenses on a year to year basis. If there is one-time dollars available, a categorical grant program funding one-time expenditures (item 2 above) would be better than funding all three priorities, two of which involve ongoing expenditures. House Bill 1126 Introduced by: Representatives Schoenfish, Anderson, Greenfield, Hawks, Nelson, Rasmussen, Schaefer, and Tulson and Senators Van Gerpen, Jones (Tom), Maher, Soholt, and Tieszen Todd Vik An Act to revise the persons authorized to countersign school board payments. This bill allows any board member so appointed by the board to countersign district checks in the absence of the president (current law declares the vice president is then so authorized). Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 11

12 House Bill 1138 Introduced by: Representatives Olson (Betty), Gibson, Greenfield, Kaiser, May, and Russell and Senators Maher, Begalka, and Monroe Todd Vik An Act to deposit money in the permanent school fund for certain school and public lands adjacent to walk-in areas. This bill would deposit money in the permanent school fund for certain school and public lands adjacent to walk-in areas. House Bill 1139 Introduced by: Representative Hunhoff (Bernie) and Senator Novstrup (Al) Todd Vik An Act to limit the fees a government entity may charge a person to provide public documents. This bill would restrict the amount that government entities can charge for the staff time taken to locate, assemble, or reproduce a public document requested under the open records statutes to $10.00 per hour. The District opposes this bill. Ten dollars per hour is arbitrary and is a ridiculously low amount. The lowest hourly wage in the Sioux Falls School District for a permanent employee is $10.76 per hour, which does not include benefits. These benefits include statutory (i.e. mandatory) benefits of percent plus the federally mandated provision of health insurance, of which individual monthly premiums cannot exceed 9.5 percent (9.5%) of the employee s household income. The cheapest way for the District to meet the mandatory health benefit is to pay $3,000 per year for each of those employees. At 2,080 hours per year, that amounts to $1.44 per hour. However, those employees typically work about 1,250 hours per year, which translates to $2.40 per hour. That mean the most inexpensive permanent employee of the District typically cost at minimum of $14.63 per hour, not including mandatory workers compensation and unemployment insurance costs plus other nonstatutory benefits. Of all the open records requests the District has received, not one has been handled by an individual in these position classifications. The typical responses to these requests are completed by individuals who are paid greater than $15 per hour, not including benefits. The State s minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour and the primary sponsor of this bill is among a group who is seeking to increase the minimum wage to $8.50. Applying the calculation above (using 2,080 hours), the absolute cheapest hourly cost the District could assemble this information for using permanent workers who are paid the minimum wage is $9.68 or $11.10 per hour if the primary sponsor gets his way regarding the minimum wage. Additionally, the primary sponsor represents a school district who once had an open records request for everything that is a public record. Public entities should be able to recoup actual reasonable costs for assembling and reproducing public records, not an arbitrarily low figure that appears to be pulled out of thin air. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 12

13 House Bill 1141 Introduced by: Representatives Hoffman and Cronin and Senators Holien and Peters Sharon Schueler An Act to require the South Dakota High School Activities Association to comply with the open meeting laws. This bill requires the South Dakota High School Activities Association to comply with the open meeting laws. The District supports this bill because the SDHSAA membership is comprised mostly of public schools and the association s practices should be as transparent as their members. House Bill 1142 Introduced by: Representatives Mickelson, Bolin, Conzet, Dryden, Ecklund, Erickson, Haggar (Don), Hajek, Heinemann (Leslie), Hickey, Hoffman, Langer, Lust, May, Novstrup (David), Otten (Herman), Rozum, Solum, Stalzer, Werner, Westra, Wick, and Wink and Senators White, Curd, Frerichs, Heineman (Phyllis), Jones (Tom), Kirkeby, Krebs, Peters, Rampelberg, Rave, Van Gerpen, and Vehle Jeff Holcomb An Act to enhance the support for public postsecondary technical institutes and to make an appropriation therefor. This bill enhances the support for public postsecondary technical institutes. The District supports this bill. House Bill 1146 Introduced by: Representative Cronin and Senator Rave Todd Vik An Act to accommodate legislation relating to education in South Dakota. This bill is a place holder to relating to education. The District takes no position on this bill at this time. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 13

14 House Bill 1147 Introduced by: Representative Cronin and Senator Rave Todd Vik An Act to accommodate legislation on the state aid to education formula and to make an appropriation therefor. This bill is a place holder to increase state aid. The District takes no position on this bill at this time. House Bill 1150 Introduced by: Representatives Wick, Campbell, Conzet, Cronin, Ecklund, Feickert, Greenfield, Haggar (Jenna), Hawley, Heinemann (Leslie), Hoffman, Hunhoff (Bernie), Kaiser, Kopp, Langer, Magstadt, May, Mickelson, Munsterman, Novstrup (David), Olson (Betty), Qualm, Rasmussen, Schaefer, Stalzer, Steele, Tulson, Verchio, Westra, and Wink and Senators Rhoden, Ewing, Heineman (Phyllis), Holien, Jensen, Lederman, Maher, Monroe, Novstrup (Al), Omdahl, Otten (Ernie), Peters, Rampelberg, and Van Gerpen Sue Simons An Act to require that the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States be recited at the start of each school day in every public school classroom.. This bill creates a state wide requirement relating to the students having the opportunity to salute the US and its flag each day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance While the decision regarding recitation of the Pledge should be left to local control, the proposal is substantially consistent with the District s policy/regulation on this issue. House Bill 1167 Introduced by: Representatives Sly, Ecklund, Hawks, Magstadt, Munsterman, Olson (Betty), and Tyler and Senators Hunhoff (Jean), Bradford, Jensen, Rampelberg, and Soholt Molly Satter An Act to allow schools to maintain a stock and to administer epinephrine auto-injectors in certain cases. This bill would allow for the storage and administration of stock epinephrine in schools. The District supports this bill because it is written so that the decision to implement is at the local level. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 14

15 House Bill 1181 Introduced by: Representatives Gibson, Bartling, Feickert, Hajek, Hawks, Hawley, Lust, Mickelson, Parsley, Ring, Schoenfish, Stevens, Tyler, and Wismer, and Senators Kirkeby, Bradford, Curd, Krebs, Maher, Peters, Rhoden, Sutton, and Welke Sue Simons An Act to allow for the requirement of a certification of health from an employee of a school. This bill clarifies that a school district has the right to request that employee provide a certification of health when the district has reasonable cause to believe that the employee is suffering from a mental or physical condition that could be detrimental to the health or safety of that employee, student or other employees. The cost of requiring the certification would be that of the district. The District supports this bill. Allowing a school district to make this request, with no cost to the employee, when it has reasonable cause to suspect safety and health concerns is consistent with a districts duty/commitment to staff and student health and safety. House Bill 1187 Introduced by: Representatives Bolin, Ecklund, Greenfield, Haggar (Don), Haggar (Jenna), Kaiser, Latterell, May, Nelson, Olson (Betty), Qualm, Russell, Stalzer, Steele, and Wick and Senators Jensen, Begalka, and Omdahl Sharon Schueler An Act to provide for the exemption of certain students from the requirement to take certain academic assessment tests. A student s parent/guardian or an emancipated student may request an exemption from assessments required by the South Dakota Department of Education. The request must be made within 180 days of the start of any fiscal school year to the superintendent on a notarized form provided by the South Dakota Department of Education. The District takes no position on this bill; however, having required tests optional is an oxymoron. House Bill 1202 Introduced by: Representatives Bartling, Hunhoff (Bernie), Parsley, and Stevens and Senators Lucas, Frerichs, Kirkeby, Sutton, and Welke Todd Vik An Act to revise the index factor in the state aid to general education formula. This bill changes the index factor from three percent (3%) or inflation, whichever is less, to four percent (4%) or inflation, whichever is more. The District supports this bill. This bill is very similar to proposals that were submitted by schools and supported by the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce prior to the recession that started in late In those earlier bills, the four percent (4%) increase was viewed as critical to ensure average teacher salaries can keep up with the rest of the South Dakota workforce, whose average salaries increase about four percent (4%) per year. The only philosophical difference between this proposal and the earlier Chamber-supported proposals is that in the prior proposals the index factor was also Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 15

16 capped at the growth in State general fund revenues. This may not be a critical aspect to this bill anymore, however, as when revenues are tight the Legislature can change the per student allocation to match the revenues (i.e. no increase for FY11 and an 8.6% cut in FY12). The State s general fund budget can be divided into rough thirds: Medicaid Agencies (38%), State Aid to Schools (29%), Rest of State Government (32%). On a per capita/per pupil basis based on the Governor s recommended budget, the Rest of State Government is up 12.8% since Governor Daugaard s administration began while the per student allocation is still a minus 0.8%. Since the beginning of the Rounds administration the figures are 38.5% and 22.5% respectively. Since the first full year (FY98) of the per pupil state aid formula, the figures are 58.7% and 38.5% respectively. It is clear that the current state aid formula holds school funding down when State revenues are increasing at their typical 5%+ rate and is revised downward when revenues are tanking. This bill, while not making State Aid a high priority, will at least allow schools to give teacher pay increases that can keep up with private sector pay increase (starting now, not making up for the significant fall off over the past 17 years). House Bill 1204 Introduced by: Representatives Dryden, Cronin, Duvall, Lust, Mickelson, Otten (Herman), Sly, and Wink and Senators Tidemann, Brown, Maher, Peters, and White Todd Vik An Act to include certain court fines in a school district's local effort for purposes of the state aid to general education formula, and to establish the per student allocation for school fiscal year This bill adds fine money to the State Aid Formula for the general fund and increases the per student allocation by the average dollar amount per student that each district received last year. The District opposes this bill. This bill starts the process of moving other funds outside the formula into the formula. There are three or four other funds (e.g. Bank Franchise, Mobile Home, and Gross Receipts Taxes) that may follow in the future. Including these funds in the formula simply adds more revenue streams into a formula that is currently underfunded with its arbitrarily low annual increase of to three percent (3%) or inflation, whichever is less. Additionally, adding these other funds to the formula makes it appear to be increasing at a rate that is artificial, because schools have already been receiving these funds, just not through the formula. If this effort to equalize other funds was part of an effort to get the annual per pupil increase to a more realistic level (i.e. 4%), the District could support the effort. However, taking dollars from some school districts to give to others with revenues the former districts have become dependent upon to manage an under-funded formula is not desirable. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 16

17 House Bill 1205 Introduced by: Representatives Dryden, Cronin, Duvall, Lust, Mickelson, Otten (Herman), Sly, and Wink and Senators Tidemann, Brown, Maher, Peters, and White Todd Vik An Act to include certain court fines in a school district's local effort for purposes of the state aid to general education formula, and to establish the per student allocation for school fiscal year This bill equalizes Gross Receipts revenue to school districts. The District opposes this bill. This bill is the second bill that is part of a process of equalizing other funds outside the formula (the first was county fine revenue). There are at least two other funds (e.g. Bank Franchise and Mobile Home Taxes,) that may follow in the future. If equalizing other funds outside the formula was part of an effort to get the annual per pupil increase in the formula to a more realistic level (i.e. 4%), the District could support the effort. However, taking dollars from some school districts to give to others with revenues the former districts have become dependent upon to manage an under-funded formula is not desirable. House Bill 1214 Introduced by: Representatives May, Greenfield, Kaiser, Nelson, Olson (Betty), and Stalzer and Senator Jensen Sharon Schueler An Act to require a study and analysis of the financial, fiscal, and economic impacts of implementation of the Common Core State Standards. This bill requires the Department of Education will conduct an independent study and analyze the potential financial, fiscal, and economic impacts of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards adopted by the South Dakota Board of Education in 2010 to be completed by December, The District opposes this bill. No other set of content standards in other subject areas are required to be analyzed for the financial, fiscal, and economic impact. The funds for such a study and analysis need to be put towards per pupil funding. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 17

18 House Bill 1216 Introduced by: Representatives Bartling, Hunhoff (Bernie), Parsley, and Stevens and Senators Lucas, Frerichs, Kirkeby, Sutton, and Welke Todd Vik An Act to compensate school districts for funding shortfalls by increasing the per student allocation in the state aid to general education formula over the next three years. This bill increases General State Aid 6.3 percent (6.3%), 4.6 percent (4.6%), and 4.5 percent (4.5%) over the next three years. The District supports this bill. This bill attempts to make up somewhat for the 8.6 percent (8.6%) cut schools received in FY12; however, even with the 6.3 percent (6.3%) increase funding would only be up 2.3 percent (2.3%) over the final year of Round s administration while the non-medicaid, Non-State Aid portion of the State s budget (aka, the rest of state government ) will be up 12.8 percent (12.8%) over the same period. If this bill were to pass and the rest of state government did not grow in FY16 and FY17, its growth since the beginning of Daugaard s administration would still outpace the growth in the per student allocation 12.8 percent (12.8%) to 11.8 percent (11.8%). House Bill 1218 Introduced by: Representatives Schoenfish, Anderson, Greenfield, Haggar (Jenna), Heinemann (Leslie), Lust, Nelson, Peterson, Rasmussen, Sly, Tulson, Tyler, and Werner and Senators Welke, Frerichs, Jensen, Jones (Tom), Tidemann, and Tieszen Todd Vik An Act to authorize school districts to use certain tax levies for pension and health insurance purposes. This bill allows the pension levy to be used for health insurance in addition to pensions. House Bill 1219 Introduced by Representatives Wick, Bolin, Ecklund, Greenfield, Haggar (Jenna), Heinemann (Leslie), Nelson, Olson (Betty), Sly, Stalzer, Steele, and Westra and Senators Van Gerpen, Curd, Jensen, Lederman, Maher, Omdahl, and Otten (Ernie) Todd Vik An Act to require joint municipal and school annual elections. This bill requires city and school districts to combine their elections, hold them in November, and combined with the general election in even numbered years. The District opposes this bill. School Board terms start in July to match the school s fiscal year. This bill would require an election in early November to fill a vacancy in July. While the intent of this bill is probably to increase voter turnout and save costs, this bill will not solve the Sioux Falls School District s biggest turnout and cost problem, which is elections in odd-numbered years (the District would presumably still have the only election in odd-numbered years). This bill is an attempt at more centralized planning emanating from Pierre by a prime sponsor who often decries the Federal Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 18

19 Government imposing its will on the states, is not very well thought out, and should -- at a minimum -- be tabled until all of the tangential issues (e.g. not beginning a term until eight months after the election) can be discovered and resolved. House Bill 1227 Introduced by Representatives Hickey, Ecklund, Haggar (Jenna), Heinemann (Leslie), Latterell, Munsterman, and Wick and Senators Otten (Ernie), Omdahl, and Van Gerpen Todd Vik An Act to reduce state government reliance on video lottery proceeds, to revise the distribution of video lottery proceeds, and to dedicate certain deposits and income from the education enhancement trust fund. This bill moves video lottery proceeds from the Property Tax Reduction Fund to the Education Enhancement Fund essentially just a paper transfer as both have been used to fund the State Aid Formula. House Bill 1233 Introduced by Representatives Nelson, Hickey, Hoffman, Kaiser, Latterell, May, Olson (Betty), Qualm, Russell, Stalzer, Steele, and Verchio and Senators Jensen, Kirkeby, and Maher Todd Vik An Act to provide for the recall of certain state and local elected officials. This bill allows for the recall of any elected position if a petition is signed by at least 25 percent (25%) of the number of individuals who voted in the election in which the official was elected. House Bill 1235 Introduced by Representatives Parsley, Bartling, Feinstein, Gibson, Hawley, Heinert, Hunhoff (Bernie), Kirschman, Schoenfish, and Wismer and Senators Frerichs, Jones (Tom), Lucas, and Welke Todd Vik An Act to revise the state aid to education formula for school fiscal years 2015 and This bill makes up for the general fund index factor that was not applied in 2011 and 2012 over a two year period. Presumably, this would not only wipe out the 8.6 percent (8.6%) cut in FY12 but eventually increase State Aid to $5,273 plus the FY16 index factor, which is currently unknown, in FY16. The FY15 allocation will be approximately $4,982 or a 7.7 percent (7.7%) increase over the FY14 allocation. The District supports this bill. This bill makes up for the 8.6 percent (8.6%) cut imposed on schools in FY12 and restores the lost index factor increases in that year plus FY10, when State Aid was frozen. While this may seem like a steep increase for schools, even if it was fully funded in FY15 Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 19

20 (instead of over two years), the per student allocation would have increased 9.8 percent (9.8%) since the final year of Rounds administration while the non-medicaid, Non-State Aid portion of the State s budget (aka, the rest of state government ) will be up 12.8 percent (12.8%) per capita over the same period (based on the Governor s recommended budget). By contrast, the Governor s recommended State Aid per student allocation is actually 0.8 percent (0.8%) below the final figure under the Rounds administration. House Bill 1236 Introduced by Representatives Sly and Lust and Senator Rave Todd Vik An Act to establish the school innovation and emergency fund. This bill creates, but does not fund, the school innovation and emergency fund to provide an additional source of funding for schools in the state to pay for unexpected costs and to implement special innovation projects aimed at ensuring that the school is graduating students who are career and college ready. House Bill 1237 Introduced Representatives Sly, Cronin, Gosch, Lust, and Wink and Senators Otten (Ernie), Lederman, Rave, and Rhoden Sharon Schueler An Act to establish a comprehensive evaluation of the Common Core State Standards. South Dakota Common Core State Standards Evaluation Council will be established to compare the previous South Dakota math and English language arts content standards to the Common Core State Standards; compare the Smarter Balanced assessment to the Dakota STEP assessment, and to compare fiscal impact of fully implementing the common core state standards to alternative standards. House Bill 1243 Introduced Representatives May, Campbell, Greenfield, Nelson, Olson (Betty), and Stalzer and Senator Jensen Sharon Schueler An Act to supplant the Common Core State Standards. This bill compares the academic content standards that South Dakota used before the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and other states (such as Indiana) who rejected the Common Core State Standards with the Common Core State Standards; Consider best practices in developing and adopting academic content standards seeking information from subject area teachers and subject area professors at the institutions under the control of the South Dakota Board of Regents. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 20

21 The secretary of the Department of Education will pay the cost to the state associated with implementing the Smarter Balanced assessment and (in consultation with the Bureau of Finance and Management) and report to the Legislature the fiscal impact to the state if the South Dakota Board of Education fully implements the Common Core State Standards or discontinues the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. The South Dakota Board of Education or the secretary of the Department of Education may not enter into or renew an agreement with any organization that requires the state to cede any measure of autonomy or control of academic content standards and assessments including cut scores. The District opposes this bill. A crosswalk has been done with the previous South Dakota standards and the Common Core State Standards Is it financially feasible to compare Common Core to other state standards? Workgroups established by the South Dakota Department of Education already include content area teachers and professors in developing academic content standards. The Department of Education and the SD Board of Education should have authority for academic standards and testing. House Bill 1249 Introduced Representatives Schoenfish, Hawley, Heinert, Killer, Rasmussen, Rozum, Sly, Stevens, Tulson, and Verchio and Senators Welke, Jones (Chuck), Lederman, Lucas, and Soholt Bob Jensen An Act to revise the required hours in a school term for certain grade levels. This bill changes the number of hours in the school year requirement for 4 th and 5 th grades students from matching that of middle and high school students to matching 1 st through 3 rd grade students (ie, from 960 hours to 875 hours). The District supports this bill. Fourth and fifth grade students are elementary, not secondary students, and their school year term should match the rest of elementary students. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 21

22 House Bill 1256 Introduced Representatives Heinert, Ecklund, Greenfield, Hawks, Hawley, Hickey, Killer, Olson (Betty), Schaefer, Schrempp, Soli, and Wismer and Senators Sutton, Bradford, Buhl O'Donnell, Frerichs, Kirkeby, Krebs, Maher, and Vehle Sharon Schueler An Act to increase opportunities and funding for school districts to apply for jobs for America's graduates programs. This bill increases opportunities and funding for school districts to apply for jobs for America's graduates programs. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 22

23 Senate Bill 8 Introduced by: Senators Rhoden, Frerichs, and Sutton and Representatives Cronin, Bartling, Mickelson, and Peterson at the request of the Agricultural Land Assessment Implementation and Oversight Advisory Task Force Todd Vik An Act to revise certain provisions concerning the assessment and taxation of real property. This bill extends from 2015 to 2019 the limitations placed on the growth of pension and capital outlay levies that were part of the property tax reforms circa 2010 dealing with agricultural valuations. These limitations have no impact on the Sioux Falls School District because its valuations do not grow over ten percent (10%) per year. Senate Bill 37 Introduced by: The Committee on Appropriations at the request of the Department of Education Todd Vik An Act to revise the state aid to general education formula. This bill is the Governor s proposal to increase the general fund per student allocation three percent (3%) (as opposed to 1.6% in current law). It also makes the annual Cuter/Gabriel adjustment in the general fund levy by decreasing the owner occupied and commercial levies by one percent (1%). The District supports this bill as the scheduled increase is in general fund State Aid would be an anemic 1.6% without a bill to increase it. Senate Bill 38 Introduced by: The Committee on Appropriations at the request of the Department of Education Todd Vik An Act to revise the state aid to special education formula. This bill makes the annual Cutler/Gabriel adjustment for the Special Education fund by lowering the levy by 5.5 percent (5.5%). The District supports this bill as it honors the commitment to lower special education tax rates when valuation increases outpace the increase in local need. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 23

24 Senate Bill 62 Introduced by: Senators Otten (Ernie), Begalka, Brown, Krebs, Novstrup (Al), Rampelberg, Rave, Rhoden, Soholt, Tieszen, and Van Gerpen and Representatives Sly, Cronin, Kaiser, Lust, Mickelson, Otten (Herman), and Westra Sharon Schueler An Act to establish a comprehensive evaluation of the common core state standards and to make an appropriation therefor. This bill will establish a South Dakota Common Core State Standards Evaluation Council to compare the previous South Dakota math and English language arts content standards to the Common Core State Standards; compare the Smarter Balanced assessment to the Dakota STEP assessment, and to compare fiscal impact of fully implementing the common core state standards to alternative standards. The District supports this bill. Given the concerns expressed by a portion of the citizens at the local, state and national levels regarding the Common Core Standards, this Council provides an opportunity for South Dakota to validate its decisions and to provide a vehicle for public engagement in the process. Senate Bill 63 Introduced by: Senators Otten (Ernie), Begalka, Brown, Jensen, Krebs, Novstrup (Al), Rampelberg, Rave, Rhoden, Tieszen, and Van Gerpen and Representatives Stalzer, Bolin, Cronin, Kaiser, Lust, Nelson, Sly, and Westra Sue Simons An Act to protect the privacy of the records of individual students. This bill addresses privacy of student records by the State Department of Education and surveys conducted at elementary and secondary schools. The District supports this bill. The bill incorporates federal laws addressing the issue of the privacy of student educational records and is consistent with federal law regarding student surveys. The majority of the bill applies to the disclosure of information by the SD State Department of Education and appears to be consistent with existing federal requirements. The section applying to local school (Section 3) (surveys) is consistent with the Federal Protection of Pupil Rights Law with the addition of (8) prohibiting surveys relating to personal or family gun ownership which is not objectionable. Sioux Falls School District 49-5 Page 24