2007 session reaches mid-way point

As the clock runs down on the 2008 legislative session, legislators will continue to debate education-related issues. Besides school funding, teacher salaries have become a hot topic this year. Legislators also have heard bills on everything from charter schools to pre-K to parent-taught driver’s education. (Summary as of Feb. 6, 9 a.m.)

• Education funding has been at the forefront of legislative discussion during the 2008 session. Proposals range from the Governor’s recommended 2.5 percent increase to an approximately $800 per student increase over the next six years supported by the Senate Minority Leader (SB 149).
• Teacher salaries have been a hot topic and the subject of several bills. Two bills (HB 1214 and HB 1268) call for establishing minimum salaries. Two other bills (HB 1262 and SB 187) call for increasing, or enhancing, salaries. SB 181 calls for providing tuition reimbursement for secondary teachers who agree to teach in critical-need areas.
• A bill that would give the South Dakota Board of Education rule-making authority to establish standards for pre-K programs (SB 26) has passed the Senate. It will face an uphill battle on the House side.
• A bill that changes current consolidation incentives (HB 1051) has made it out of the House. In its current form, the bill changes consolidation incentives so that newly reorganized districts receive incentive money only for those new students that actually show up in their fall enrollment count (up to a maximum of 400 students from the sending district). The bill also increases the per-student amount of the incentive. Finally, it makes an exemption for districts whose plans were approved between July 1-Dec. 31, 2007.
• A bill to allow for the establishment of charter schools was defeated in Senate Education.
• A bill that would allow increased access to the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship has passed the Senate Education Committee. SB 201 lowers the ACT and SAT score requirements for eligibility for the scholarship.
• A small number of districts qualified for both the declining enrollment and growing enrollment benefits in the same year. House Bill 1288 would limit districts to one benefit or the other, whichever is larger.
• A bill introduced by the Bureau of Finance and Management (HB 1076) would take the money the Department of Education currently uses to fund technology in the schools and the statewide assessment and runs those dollars through the state aid formula. This change would not result in new costs for school districts; however, it would mean that local tax payers would be sharing in the costs of these items.

To view these and any other bills being discussed this session, visit http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2008/.