Senate Revives Education Funding Bill

March 3, 2010

PIERRE, SD – A bill to reform the education funding formula in South Dakota is alive again.

Senator Dave Knudson’s bill, SB 124, aims to give schools more money, but only if state revenue grows, too. Tuesday, Knudson revived the bill under a different name, after lawmakers changed the original bill’s intent.

Designed to increase school funding, the bill would give education an increase of 4 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is higher, but not to exceed statewide revenue growth. Senator Knudson says it’s a win-win concept.

"I don’t understand how people think that the school amount will be too expensive for the state, when under no circumstances can schools get more than the state’s general fund revenue," Knudson said.

The bill passed the Senate early on, but faced opposition in the House. This week, lawmakers hog housed or drastically changed the bill’s language, so that it’s not even the same bill anymore. But Tuesday, Knudson hog housed another bill, HB 1051, and replaced it with his.

Although the legislation would mean more money for schools in the future, it also would mean no increase for next year, as the governor proposed.

"It does combine a very bitter pill of the 0 percent increase for next year with the promise of brighter days in the future," Knudson said.

This is the third year Knudson has introduced similar legislation. Some lawmakers don’t like that under the plan, schools would get zero percent next year and want to give them the 1.2 percent increase that was promised.