Published: Friday, March 8, 2013 1:07 AM CST

The South Dakota Legislature approved spending more than $6 million in one-time funding to provide aid to technical schools and school districts. The amount equates to around $45 per student across the state.

The funding could help Yankton School District (YSD) close its nearly $1.6 million budget shortfall.

The House approved the measure 65-3, and will now become law if Gov. Dennis Daugaard signs the bill.

YSD school board president Chris Specht said any money allocated by the Legislature is appreciated by all districts across the state. However, he said one-time money also has its downfalls.

“The problem with one-time money is it does not allow districts to plan for the future, nor does it help reduce the 10 percent revenue cut from prior years,” Specht said. “We all want more from our government, but no one wants their taxes to increase and no one wants their benefits cut.”

The school state aid formula is based in part on a per-student allotment. That allotment increases annually by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or 3 percent, whichever is less. For this year’s overall state budget, Daugaard recommends a 3 percent ongoing increase in state aid to school districts.

In FY 2012, Daugaard announced funding cuts across the board, which included cuts to education. Schools across the state were projecting about a 5 percent decrease to funding, but that decrease turned out to be more than 8.5 percent.

“If the state does give out one-time money, it’s based on next fall’s student enrollment,” YSD business manager Jason Bietz said. “If the $45 per student becomes law, you make an assumption, based on today’s enrollment, that this would bring around $118,000 to Yankton School District.”

However, Bietz is not ready to take that figure to the bank.

“We really don’t know what to fully expect yet, since the bill hasn’t been signed by the governor and we don’t know all the details surrounding the one-time money,” he said. “We appreciate one-time money, but we’re still searching for a long-term solution.”

The bill spends around $5.8 million, which gives districts an additional 1 percent increase in aid. It also allocates technical schools an additional $200,000 and gives the Teach for America program $250,000.

YSD school board member Jim Fitzgerald said he appreciates the one-time allotment from Pierre.

“The one-time moneys, we will certainly take and is nice to have,” he said. “The issue is, one-time money is nothing you can plug into the budget that can impact ongoing expenses.

“Anything the state wants to share with us is great, and we’ll certainly take it, but that’s probably about 10 percent or less of what our budget shortfall will be,” Fitzgerald said. “We will have to get creative with how we’ll balance the budget. We need to do what’s right for the district and figure out how to close the gap.”

Specht wondered when the lawmakers will put a priority on education funding across the state.

“How large do we allow our class sizes to get, and how many programs are eliminated before parents in our state tell their elected representatives to make K-12 education funding a higher priority?” he asked.

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