It was a bit anticlimactic in appropriations on Thursday, so far as school funding was concerned.

 

Members of the Joint Appropriations committee met for a little over an hour and covered just over a 1/3 of the funding amendments submitted for Senate Bill 187, which is the general fund bill for Fiscal Year 2015.

 

None of the amendments covered, however, dealt with funding K-12 schools.

 

The Joint Appropriations committee is scheduled to return at 8:30 a.m. on Friday to complete the list of amendments, which contain three proposals to provide more than the three percent increase to state aid proposed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard for the 2014-15 school year.

 

Proposed amendments include providing a four percent increase to the per-student allocation, a five percent increase to the PSA or the .87 percent increase, setting the PSA at its pre-cut highpoint of $4,805, which ASBSD has advocated for throughout session.

 

The current proposal of three percent would set the PSA at $4,764. State law requires an increase in funding of three percent or the change in CPI-W, whichever is less, and the CPI-W change came in at 1.6 percent this year.

 

“Right now, three percent is on the board,” ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said. “Our goal has been $4,805 and there’s been theme of doing more for schools during this session. What else, if anything, could be added remains to be seen tomorrow (Friday).”

 

For updates on the budget finalization process, check the ASBSD Blog and Bill Tracker page.