The bill providing the proposed three percent increase in state aid for schools is on its way to Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s desk.

 

Members of the House passed Senate Bill 37, which sets the per-student allocation at $4,764, on a 65-2 vote. ASBSD supports the bill.

 

SB 37 also establishes the property tax levies for the school district general fund for fiscal year 2015. The new levy levels accompany the bill to support the Cutler-Gabriel share of funding between the state and local effort, which is approximately 54 percent and 46 percent, respectively.

 

The commercial levy would be set at $9.10 per thousand dollars of valuation, down from $9.20, the agricultural levy would be set at $1.78 per thousand dollars of valuation, a decrease of 31 cents, and the owner occupied levy would be set at $4.25 per thousand dollars of valuation, a four cent decrease.

 

Rep. Dick Werner said the drop in valuations for the owner occupied and commercial levies was the first in three years.

 

SB 37 is now the lone levy bill, as Senators voted to table House Bill 1085, which also set property tax levies, on Tuesday.

 

Although SB 37 now moves to the governor’s desk, the budgeting process continues as members of the Joint Appropriations committee will convene later this week to begin the finalization of the state’s budget in the form of Senate Bill 187. Once finalized, SB 187 will be sent to both chambers for passage.

 

In addition to SB 37, Representatives passed Senate Bill 38, which sets the property tax levies for the special education fund. The levy will be set at $1.478 per thousand dollars of valuation for FY15.

 

For updates from legislative session, check the ASBSD Blog and Bill Tracker page.