Members of the House and Senate discussed, debated and acted on a number of bills well into the evening hours on Wednesday, which marked Crossover Day. All bills still in their original house had to be passed or tabled by the end of the day.

 

A long list of legislation related to K-12 education littered the docket in both houses. Here’s a rundown of those bills from the House:

 

House Bill 1204: Requires Board of Education to seek legislative approval before implementing any additional Common Core Standards. The bill would not affect the math and reading standards, set for implementation in 2014, but would require any further standards be approved by the legislature.

 

“This bill in particular will strip away the authority of the State Board of Education,” Bill sponsor Rep. Jim Bolin (16) said. Bolin added the legislature should “reserve the power” to approve future standards.

 

Rep. Anne Hajek (14) expressed concern that the bill takes away the power of the State Board of Education to hold public hearings and gives power to the legislature “to make all the decisions.”

 

HB 1204 passed on a 36-32 vote. ASBSD is opposed to the bill.

 

House Bill 1143: Creates a property tax levy for leased residential property for the school district general fund and sets the levy at $8.62. Leased residential property is defined as any single-family unit or structure consisting of two or more family units that is leased or rented.

 

The economic impact of establishing the leased residential property levy is unknown at this time.

 

HB 1143 passed on a 55-13 vote. ASBSD is monitoring the bill.

 

House Bill 1137: Impacts education in South Dakota. HB 1137 acts a vehicle bill if additional funding would be available for school districts near the end of session, said Sen. Justin Cronin (23).

 

“Maybe we can get some one-time monies out there (for education),” Cronin, the bill’s sponsor, said.

 

HB 1137 passed on a 61-8 vote. ASBSD is monitoring the bill.

 

House Bill 1165: Revises certain property tax levies for the general fund of school districts. The bill sets the non-ag levy at $8.62 per thousand dollars of taxable valuation, the agriculture levy at $2.32 and the owner-occupied levy at $4.02.

 

The bill would only drop the tenth of cents from the levies.

 

HB 1165 passed on a 67-2 vote. ASBSD is monitoring the bill.