South Dakota lawmakers are taking a new look at funding for public school districts.

Last week, the Legislature’s executive board approved forming a study committee to look at the funding formula for public school districts and the revenue sources available the fund the districts.

However, local officials have cautious reactions to the committee.

“I’m happy that they’re putting a committee together,” said YSD school board member Jim Fitzgerald. “I think that the 20-plus year old way of funding schools may not be the best for us today. I’m hoping that the committee can come up with different avenues of funding to help better meet the needs of YSD and the students.”

He added that if the committee decides that everything is working well the way it is, it must emphasize that they state should follow the guidelines set in place and fund the schools at the rates that are mandated.

The current formula requires state aid to schools increase by 3 percent each year, or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

“If they were to fund schools each year the way the formula says they should, YSD would be where we need to be right now,” Fitzgerald said.

YSD school board president Chris Specht said he believes the decision to create a committee to study public school funding is a small step in the right direction.

“As the vast majority of public school districts in the state continue to face declining enrollment, declining budget funds and greater expectations, in terms of opportunities offered to students and student achievement, state government needs to step up its funding of public education,” he said. “When public schools spend 86 percent of their general fund budgets on personnel expenses, it is only logical that cutting the budget means cutting staff, leading towards the elimination of opportunities for students and increasing class sizes.”

Specht added that some people say “if the money is not coming your way, local boards need to cut staff to meet budget.” However, he said he does not want YSD to have to do that.

“I contend that is the easy way out, which will also negatively affect students and will have a detrimental impact on our state’s future,” he said. “As a state, we need to fund education first.”

YSD board member Jay Williams said he hopes school districts can get more state funding in the future — but he is skeptical of that happening.

“Gov. (William) Janklow vowed to fix the funding problem, and he used a formula based on the cost of educating a kid,” he said. “We were doing fine, but he didn’t follow up on the formula. I don’t have a lot of faith in our state government to take care of education.”

Williams added that the concept of not wanting to fund anything, including education, is not something the state government should follow.

“I welcome any extra money we can get, but we’re in a tough situation here now,” he said. “Five years down the road might not help us much with the current students we have here now. I think the Legislature needs to address what they’ve done, but I don’t have much hope for it.”

Williams said that YSD has made significant cuts in recent years, but still faces a budget shortfall of around $1.6 million.

“We’re spending up our reserves with the idea that, when it’s all gone, there may somehow be more money,” he said. “However, I’m all for the government trying to get funding on the right track and seeing that some people recognize that there is a problem. Anything they can do to recognize the problem they’ve created, I’m all for.”

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