At their August meeting, members of the ASBSD Board of Directors approved changes to the Association’s legislative resolutions and standing positions recommended by the ASBSD Policy and Resolutions Committee.
The resolutions and standing positions dictate the legislative direction of ASBSD and are voted on by member districts at Delegate Assembly. This year’s Delegate Assembly is set for Friday, Nov. 20.
Below you will find a review of each change made to a resolution or standing position and draft form PDF’s can be found on the Publications and Forms page.
Resolutions (click to view PDF):
A 1: Pre-Kindergarten Standards– recommend amendment.
A line of clarification was added to the rationale: Pre-kindergarten is defined as any public education program for children under age 5.
A 4: Common Core Academic Standards and State Assessment Exams– recommend amendment.
Included State Assessment Exams in the resolution title along with the addition of: and the full participation of students in state assessment exams in the resolution and Full participation allows for accurate measurement of student achievement success of Common Core Standards in the rationale.
The additions are in response to testing exemption proposals, which would compromise the accuracy of the assessment results.
A 6: School Employee Compensation– recommend amendment.
Added the words “attract” and “recruit” to the resolution to signify the difficulty schools are having hiring; also removed two lines from the rationale so the information better aligned with the current situation.
B 2: Technical Institute Governance– recommend delete.
Legislators passed House Joint Resolution 1003 placing an initiative calling for technical institutes to be independently governed on the 2016 ballot. There was no resistance to the proposal. ASBSD does not believe the resolution is needed, as it stands in opposition of the proposed initiative.
B 4: Employee Health Insurance Plans– recommend delete.
ASBSD does not believe the resolution is relevant as school boards have the option to choose a health insurance plan that best fits their district and no statute exists that requires schools to comply with a single health insurance plan.
B 5: Charter Schools– recommend amendment.
Added a line to the resolution to clearly state ASBSD opposes any form of charter schools outside of what is allowed in current statute, which permits Pilot Charter Schools for American Indian students.
B 6: Market-Based Pay Resources– recommend delete.
With the legislature’s passing of Senate Bill 132, which allows school districts to utilize market-based financial incentives to attract and retain teachers, the resolution is no longer needed.
B 7: Public Funding for Non-Public Education– recommend adoption.
Senate Bill 189, which diverted public dollars to fund private education and was eventually defeated, introduced a new wrinkle to education funding diversion and the resolution addresses ASBSD’s opposition to potential proposals.
C 1: School Funding– recommend amendment.
An inclusive line was added to the resolution: and the South Dakota Constitution.
C 2: Index Factor– recommend delete.
The resolution’s intention is contained in similar resolutions and thus no longer needed.
C 3: Education Service Agencies– recommend amendment.
Edits made to rationale to reflect current state of ESA funding.
C 6: Other Revenue– recommend amendment.
To encompass other revenue sources of some school districts PILT Funds was added to rationale.
C 7: Capital Outlay Flexibility Reduction Growth Limitations– recommend amendment.
Limitations set on capital outlay growth would hinder a school district’s plan for their capital outlay fund dollars and limit local control of the school board. No proposals related to capital outlay flexibility have emerged since the 2014 legislative session.
C 9: Capital Outlay Compromise– recommend delete.
The specific proposal referred to in the Capital Outlay Compromise resolution was defeated in the form of House Bill 1207 during the 2015 legislative session and as a result the resolution is no longer needed.
D 1: Alternative Revenue Sources– recommend adoption.
In lieu of a detailed proposal being presented, ASBSD supports potential legislation that would dedicate revenue to funding K-12 public education.
G 3: Payment In Lieu of Taxes– recommend deletion.
Resolution is no longer needed as PILT funds were included in proposed amendment to the C. 6: Other Revenue resolution.
Standing Positions (click to view PDF):
Student Achievement – recommend amendment.
Unneeded line removed from third paragraph.
Health & Wellness – recommend amendment.
Added teach to first paragraph to encompass role of staff in health and wellness.
Technology in Education – recommend amendment.
Added teaching to third and fifth paragraphs to encompass role of staff in technology in education.
Local Governance – recommend amendment.
Language cleaned up in first paragraph to clarify school board members’ role in local governance.
School Choice – recommend amendment.
ASBSD credits all South Dakota public schools as providing a high quality education and removed the description first paragraph to reflect that belief.
School Finance – recommend amendment.
Edited two bullet point descriptions to reflect ASBSD belief in appropriate school finance system.
Safe and Secure Schools – recommend amendment.
Removed unneeded line in second paragraph and in third paragraph added adoption to accurately reflect school board’s role in plan approval.
Investment in Education – recommend amendment.
Added new sentence to standing position to reflect ASBSD’s support of potential legislation that may dedicate new revenue to funding K-12 public education.