Associated School Boards of South Dakota | 2016 Legislative Session

October08: Teacher pay in South Dakota is ticking towards its target

Teacher pay in South Dakota is ticking towards its target of $48,500. The $48,500 average teacher pay target was set in 2016, after the legislature’s passage of a historic education funding package that ushered in a new state aid funding formula along with a half-cent increase to the state’s sales tax to fund the

October07: Waiver process available for districts not meeting mandates

The data on teacher pay is in and with that comes the need for some districts to seek a waiver. Review the statewide teacher compensation data here. With the passage of the half-cent increase to the state sales tax used to improve teacher pay, as well as the new state aid funding formula,

October04: Suicide prevention training provided by ASBSD and SafeSchools

October’s edition of the SafeSchools’ School Safety Newsletter is available to review. Give the latest edition of the School Safety Matters newsletter a read here. This month’s newsletter shares information on a new safety app, an upcoming safety webinar that will help you develop and expand your district’s safety message and figures on suicide rates among

September10: Required suicide prevention training available

SafeSchools Training provides a state approved Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention training, which becomes a certificate requirement effective on July 1, 2017. The Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention training requirement comes from the passage of 2016’s Senate Bill 129, which establishes certain suicide awareness and prevention training requirements for certain school employees. South

July16: Submitting Board Minutes related to the COI Law

In May, ASBSD shared an updated Conflict of Interest Q and A designed to help school board members and administrators navigate House Bill 1170, which amended and clarified the complex conflict of interest law. Click here to read the Conflict of Interest Q and A and click here to read our corresponding blog post.

July03: 2017 Conflict of Interest Q and A

A bill updating the conflict of interest statute was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Dennis Daugaard during the 2017 legislative session. To assist school district officials understand the updates made to the law, ASBSD has put together a Q and A document to help you navigate through the law,

May18: Policy Alert: Updated Conflict of Interest sample policy

Policies of a school district, especially those negotiated with bargaining representatives for the protection of teachers, have the full force and effect of law, and legally bind the school district. By Gerry Kaufman, ASBSD Director of Policy & Legal Services ASBSD recently wrote a new sample policy: AH Conflict of Interest Disclosure and

May16: Sales tax talk at Legislative Exec Board meeting

What’s going on with sales tax revenue was once again a topic of discussion during the legislative interim. “We’ve got to keep this issue front and center if we’re going to keep funding public education and social services,” Rep. Mark Mickelson said during Monday’s (5/15) Legislative Executive Board meeting. Legislative Executive Board members

May01: Legislative comm. requests SFAB add appeal process to rules

The South Dakota Legislature’s Rule Review committee reviewed the rules of the School Finance Accountability Board (SFAB) and asked them to review their rules again to make some additions. On a 3-2 vote, Rules Review committee members sent the SFAB rules back to the board with the request to add an appeals process, which

April28: Revenue collection remains major issue

Since the start of 2017 revenue reports have not been rosy. That tepid trend continued during the April meeting of the legislature’s Executive Board. S.D. Legislative Research Council Fiscal Analyst Jeff Mehlhaff informed board members the state’s general fund revenue is down $3 million from “where we anticipated being” based on the restructured revenue estimates