positions are updated as positions on 2018 pending ... · district 10 – jenna netherton, doug...

POSITIONS ON 2018 PENDING LEGISLATION BY THE

SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT

Sioux Falls School District 49-5

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Positions are updated as bills are able to be reviewed by the District.

Sioux Falls Legislators

District 9 – Deb Peters, Michael Clark, Wayne Steinhauer District 10 – Jenna Netherton, Doug Barthel, Steven Haugaard District 11 – Jim Stalzer, Chris Karr, Mark Willadsen District 12 – Blake Curd, Arch Beal, Greg Jamison District 13 – Jack Kolbeck, Sue Peterson, G. Mark Mickelson District 14 – Deb Soholt, Tom Holmes, Larry Zikmund District 15 – Reynold Nesiba, Jamie Smith, Karen Soli

House Bill 1055 Introduced by: The Committee on Appropriations at the request of the Bureau of Finance and Management Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise the special education property tax levy for school districts and to revise the state aid to special education formula.

Impact: This bill freezes the FY19 per student allocation at the FY18 level and resets the property tax levies per the Cutler/Gabriel Amendment.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The state general fund budget is increasing. The State should find ways to increase the State Aid per student allocation as well. Additionally, the property tax portion of the inflationary increase should at least be funded, even if the State cannot find the funds for its portion. House Bill 1056 Introduced by: The Committee on Appropriations at the request of the Bureau of Finance and Management Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise the property tax levies for the general fund of school districts and to revise the state aid to general education formula.

Impact: This bill freezes the FY19 per student allocation at the FY18 level and resets the property tax levies per the Cutler/Gabriel Amendment.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The state general fund budget is increasing. The State should find ways to increase the State Aid per student allocation as well. Additionally, the property tax portion of the inflationary increase should at least be funded, even if the State cannot find the funds for its portion.

LEGEND Color Key

Updated

Positions not yet approved by School Board

Passed both houses

Dead

Key Bills




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House Bill 1099 Introduced by: The Committee on Education at the request of the Office of the Governor Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding dual education credit.

Impact: This bill removes the language that the state or school may pay all or part of the tuition. Students must have the course work approved by the school district prior to enrolling with the post-secondary institution. Section 2: speaks to the regulations put on post-secondary institutions regarding cost associated with dual credit.

Position: The District supports this bill. Dual credit opportunities allow students the opportunity to earn college credit at a reduced cost and increase the likelihood that they will continue their education post high-school in a 2- or 4-year institution. House Bill 1100 Introduced by: Representatives Wismer, Ahlers, Bartling, Brunner, Hawley, Jensen (Kevin), Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, Schoenfish, Smith, Steinhauer, Wiese, and Willadsen and Senators Sutton, Frerichs, Kennedy, Nelson, and Peters Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to require a name be printed on public contracts.

Impact: This bill requires the name of the signer be printed on public contracts.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1114 Introduced by: Representatives Steinhauer, Clark, Conzet, Glanzer, Heinemann, Holmes, Jamison, Johns, Kettwig, Marty, Otten (Herman), Reed, Rhoden, Stevens, Willadsen, Wismer, York, and Zikmund and Senators Peters, Frerichs, Jensen (Phil), and Stalzer Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to establish certain requirements for students enrolling in resident school districts or assigned schools after participating in open enrollment.

Impact: This bill establishes requirements for students wishing to return to the student’s resident district or assigned school after the conclusion of a school year. The parent/guardian would be required to notify the affected school board(s) of their intent to return to the HAC on forms provided by the Department of Education no later than August 1st. The bill allows for reenrollment after the deadline when the affected board(s) determine special circumstances exist.

Position: The District supports this bill as written but will monitor it closely. The District supports establishing a procedure for ending an open enrollment. A later date would also be supported to align with other open enrollment procedures.




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House Bill 1120 Introduced by: Representatives Peterson (Sue), Ahlers, Barthel, Beal, Bordeaux, Brunner, Campbell, Carson, Chase, Clark, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Goodwin, Haugaard, Heinemann, Howard, Jamison, Jensen (Kevin), Johnson, Kaiser, Karr, Lesmeister, Livermont, Lust, Marty, May, McCleerey, Mills, Peterson (Kent), Pischke, Qualm, Rhoden, Rounds, Schaefer, Steinhauer, Turbiville, Wiese, York, and Zikmund and Senators Langer, Cronin, Greenfield (Brock), Jensen (Phil), Killer, Klumb, Kolbeck, Monroe, Nelson, Netherton, Novstrup, Russell, Stalzer, Wiik, and Youngberg Mark Meile 367-7960

An Act to provide equal access for all students to activities sponsored by the South Dakota High School Activities Association or school districts.

Impact: Allows alternative (home) school students the ability to participate in any activity sponsored by the SDHSAA and/or any activity sponsored by the district or any school in the district. The bill does restrict public school students who would be academically ineligible from transferring to home school to remain eligible by making all students who switch to home school ineligible for activities/sports for one year

Position: The District opposes this bill. The bill allows home school students to pick and choose what services they receive and what rules they have to follow by effectively exempting them from all academic and other non-team related rules (i.e. passing X number of classes, school attendance on game day, etc.). The “academic eligibility” requirement for home school students contained in the bill is tepid, at best. The bill may also put home school students above their public school peers by automatically giving them an open-enrollment right on to any team or activity in any school they want in the district, potentially moving from school to school depending on the season/activity. Actually, the bill may also have given a sports-related open enrollment right to public school students with its imprecise wording: Any student enrolling in a South Dakota district pursuant to §13-15-21 or receiving alternative instruction pursuant to §13-27-3 is eligible to participate in any interscholastic activity sponsored by the South Dakota High School Activities Association and any activity sponsored by the district or any school in the district.(emphasis added) House Bill 1128 Introduced by: Representatives Ahlers, Bartling, Brunner, Hawley, Peterson (Sue), Smith, and Wismer and Senators Haverly, Nesiba, Peters, Sutton, and Tidemann Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding increases in teacher compensation.

Impact: This bill requires school districts to increase their teacher compensation by 85 percent of the increase in the State Aid Formula each year or state aid would be reduced by $500 per teacher employed by the District.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This bill is represents a dramatic overreach by the Legislature to micromanage school districts. Micromanaging of teacher compensation started when the Legislature finally replaced the 8.6 percent permanent cut to state aid in 2011 with the 9.1 percent increase and told school districts exactly how to spend 85 percent of that increase (i.e. increase teacher compensation). That bill came not only with new requirements on how to spend state aid




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but also with new reporting requirements, etc. Those requirements were temporary, which although they were bad public policy, made them tolerable. This bill seeks to take what was bad temporary public policy and double down on it by making permanent the practice of effectively categorizing 85 percent of state aid. Despite the misperception of many legislators, over any significant period of time school districts increase teacher compensation by more than the increase in the State Aid Formula. When the 9.1 percent state aid increase was being debated in 2016, the following statistic was presented to (and ignored by) many legislators: Teacher salaries have outpaced the per student increase by 0.4 percentage points per year (2.3% vs 1.9% from FY98 to FY14. This cost school districts an additional $22 million in FY14 for teachers’ salaries that were not included in the State Aid Formula (the increasing cost of benefits over that time clearly made that figure much larger). Incidentally, we now know the results of what happened the first year after the 2016 Legislature substantially increased State Aid. For the 2016-17 school year, the average increase in State Aid was 9.1 percent while the average increase in teacher salaries was 11.7 percent. While time has proven there is no good reason for this bill as districts increase teacher compensation by more than state aid is increased, common sense dictates that a requirement to do so is bad policy. There are countless reasons why in any given year a District might not meet the 85 percent requirement, including but not limited to expiration of an opt out, increase in energy costs or countless other costs that may spike but do not result in a formula increase, trying to offset a cut in federal funds to maintain programming that would otherwise be eliminated, or transferring traditional general fund expenses back from the capital outlay fund to the general fund because the Legislature changed the growth allowed in the capital outlay levy (i.e. limited it). Supporters of the bill might say the Compensation Board can provide exceptions for this, but what if they do not? History has proved that schools increase salaries more than the State increases the State Aid Formula and they do not need a State Board or the State Legislature to micromanage the day to day or year to year operations of individual districts. If this bill is going to pass, would suggest an amendment to the bill (and eventually a constitutional amendment) to require the State to increase the state aid formula by the 85 percent of the percent increase in the State General Fund each year, with an appeal to a committee appointed by school boards for exceptions to the requirement.




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House Bill 1135 Introduced by: Representatives Rozum, Bartling, Brunner, Carson, Clark, Hawley, Holmes, Kettwig, Rhoden, and Schoenfish and Senators Klumb and Haverly Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise the definition of fall enrollment for the purposes of education funding.

Impact: This bill reinstates two-year averaging in the State Aid formula for declining enrollment schools

Position: The District opposes this bill. This provision was eliminated to pay for increasing the small school factor from 20 to 25 percent. If the State has enough money to pay for the cost of adding this provision back in, it should be increasing the formula for all districts instead of freezing the allocation (after a 0.3% increase last year). House Bill 1141 Introduced by Brunner and DiSanto and Senators Monroe, Peters, and Tidemann Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise the publication requirements for certain municipalities and school districts.

Impact: This bill allows small school district (less than 600) to publish their minutes on the internet instead of paying to publish them in a local paper.

Position: The District would amend this bill to include all districts, not just small ones House Bill 1142 Introduced by: Brunner, DiSanto, and Turbiville and Senators Tidemann, Monroe, and Peters Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise the publication requirements for certain counties, municipalities, and school districts.

Impact: This bill allows local entities to designate publish minutes on the internet if less than 40 percent of its population is served by an eligible legal newspaper.

Position: The District would amend this bill to allow any public entity to place its minutes on the internet. The requirement to print them in a local newspaper is outdated, as are typewriters, VCRs etc. Newspapers have changed with the times (internet subscriptions, as well as fewer and physically smaller printed newspapers), so should the requirement to print minutes in the paper. The calculation in this bill is obviously designed to protect some newspapers while allowing some public entities to escape the requirement. The Legislature does not publish its minutes in a paper, it should not require local entities to do so.




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House Bill 1143 Introduced by: Representatives Lesmeister, Ahlers, Brunner, Campbell, Hawley, Kettwig, Lake, Livermont, Marty, May, Ring, Schoenfish, and Steinhauer and Senators Maher, Kennedy, Rusch, and Youngberg Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the tax exemption of certain school owned property.

Impact: This bill removes from the tax-exempt roles homes owned by school districts that are not occupied by certified teachers. Currently property owned by a school district and occupied by anyone is tax-exempt.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1144 Introduced by: Representative Johns and Senator Bolin Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to authorize a public body to conduct certain deliberations in an executive or closed meeting.

Impact: This bill clarifies the current reasons for public bodies conducting executive sessions.

Position: The District supports this bill. This appears to be clean-up language and does not substantially alter the current law. House Bill 1153 Introduced by: Representatives Ahlers, Bartling, Hawley, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, Smith, and Wismer and Senators Sutton, Frerichs, and Heinert Becky Dorman 367-7944

An Act to create certain protections and accommodations for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in their places of employment.

Impact: This bill provides job protection and accommodations for pregnant employees or those who have undergone childbirth

Position: The District opposes this bill because "related condition" is too ambiguous. The language "If another reasonable accommodation can be provided, no employer may force an employee to take vacation or unpaid leave or to accept an accommodation if the employee chooses not to accept it." is unclear and needs to be amended.




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House Bill 1155 Introduced by: Representatives Ahlers, Bartling, Smith, and Wismer and Senators Nesiba and Heinert Deb Muilenburg-Wilson 367-7956

An Act to create provisions regarding the language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

Impact: This bill directs the Department of Education to develop and disseminate a resource for parents regarding language acquisition for preschool age children who are deaf, for the superintendent of the State School for the Deaf to establish an advisory committee, and for an annual report to be created and posted on the website.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1166 Introduced by: Representatives Howard, Barthel, Beal, Brunner, Campbell, Chase, Clark, Conzet, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Glanzer, Goodwin, Greenfield (Lana), Heinemann, Johns, Kaiser, Karr, Kettwig, Lake, Latterell, Lust, May, Mickelson, Mills, Otten (Herman), Peterson (Kent), Peterson (Sue), Pischke, Rasmussen, Reed, Rhoden, Rounds, Rozum, Schaefer, Turbiville, Wiese, and Zikmund and Senators Cronin, Bolin, Ewing, Haverly, Jensen (Phil), Monroe, Novstrup, Rusch, Russell, Solano, Stalzer, Tapio, Tidemann, White, and Youngberg Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding waivers recommended by the School Finance Accountability Board.

Impact: This bill provides clean-up language regarding which committee can approve recommendations from the Finance Accountability Board.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1172 Introduced by: Representatives May, Beal, Bordeaux, Brunner, Campbell, Clark, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Goodwin, Gosch, Greenfield (Lana), Haugaard, Howard, Jensen (Kevin), Kaiser, Karr, Latterell, Lesmeister, Livermont, Marty, McCleerey, Peterson (Sue), Pischke, Rasmussen, Rounds, Steinhauer, Tulson, and Zikmund and Senators Greenfield (Brock), Frerichs, Jensen (Phil), Killer, Klumb, Nelson, Netherton, Russell, and Tapio Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding meetings of certain public bodies.

Impact: This bill revises the open meetings law requiring a time for public comments at public meetings held by teleconference. The bill was revised by House State Affairs to include this sentence: “The chair of the public body shall reserve at every official meeting by the public body a period for public comment, limited at the chair's discretion, but not so limited as to provide for no public comment.”

Position: The District opposes this bill. The intent of this bill is fine, but sometimes public bodies hold live meetings where public testimony is not taken. Presumably this bill would require public testimony if the meeting is via teleconference no matter the other circumstances.




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House Bill 1178 Introduced by: Representatives Schoenfish, Hunhoff, Johnson, Lake, Peterson (Kent), Steinhauer, and Wismer and Senators Peters, Cronin, Haverly, and Sutton Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding meetings of certain public bodies.

Impact: This bill provides a $10 per day fine for a late audit for school districts and other local entities.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. The Sioux Falls School District already submits audits to the Auditor General well within the timelines designated in this bill. House Bill 1189 Introduced by: Representatives Peterson (Sue), Barthel, Campbell, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Haugaard, Howard, Jamison, Jensen (Kevin), Kaiser, Karr, Latterell, Livermont, Marty, May, Pischke, Qualm, Steinhauer, Wiese, and Zikmund and Senators Cronin, Haverly, Jensen (Phil), Klumb, Kolbeck, Monroe, Otten (Ernie), Rusch, Solano, and Stalzer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions and penalties regarding inducements for school attendance and overreporting of school enrollment.

Impact: This bill is a reaction to a school district’s attempt to lure home school students on fall enrollment count day by offering them a computer if they enrolled in school that day. The bill: 1) prohibits providing inducements for attending school; 2) essentially makes it a felony and provides revocation of the offender’s certificate for knowingly over-reporting student numbers to increase state aid; and 3) makes the fall enrollment date a random day in the last two weeks of September.

Position: This bill should be amended to keep the fall enrollment date consistent (the last Friday in September). Moving the date over a two-week period that early in the year (could be as early as the 10th day of school for districts that start after Labor Day) will cause wide fluctuations in the official count from year to year. Enrollments can be very unstable early in the school year (some parents do not even think about enrolling their kids in school until they see the buses driving through the neighborhoods) and bouncing that date around might make a large difference in the count depending on the random day chosen. The other provisions of the bill will suffice to stop any tampering with the fall enrollment count.




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House Bill 1194 Introduced by: Representatives Frye-Mueller, Campbell, Dennert, DiSanto, Marty, May, and Pischke and Senators Russell, Jensen (Phil), Nelson, and Tapio Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to allow certain students to be excused from participating in certain assessments, examinations, and tests.

Impact: This bill provides parents the opportunity to excuse their students from participating in any assessment, examination, or test that is not administered solely for the use of an individual classroom teacher.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Assessment is a systematic way of gathering, analyzing and interpreting evidence to determine how well student learning matches district curriculum expectations. Assessment information is used to measure the effectiveness of student learning, academic programs and the district as an educational system. House Bill 1197 Introduced by: Representatives Mickelson, Anderson, DiSanto, Goodwin, Gosch, Heinemann, Howard, Jensen (Kevin), Johns, Johnson, Karr, Kettwig, Lake, Latterell, Lust, Marty, Peterson (Kent), Pischke, Qualm, Rhoden, Rounds, Schaefer, Steinhauer, Wiese, Willadsen, and Zikmund and Senators Cronin, Cammack, Curd, Greenfield (Brock), Maher, Monroe, Novstrup, Peters, and Youngberg Becky Dorman 367-7944

An Act to prohibit public school administrators from participating in collective bargaining.

Impact: This bill ends collective bargaining for administrators.

Position: The District opposes this bill. House Bill 1198 Introduced by: Representatives Mickelson, DiSanto, Goodwin, Gosch, Heinemann, Howard, Jensen (Kevin), Johns, Johnson, Kaiser, Karr, Kettwig, Latterell, Lust, Marty, Peterson (Kent), Pischke, Qualm, Rounds, Schaefer, Steinhauer, Wiese, and Willadsen and Senators Cronin, Cammack, Curd, Greenfield (Brock), Maher, Monroe, Novstrup, and Youngberg Becky Dorman 367-7944

An Act to prohibit school districts from compensating official labor union representatives or negotiators.

Impact: This bill would forbid District employees to receive pay for doing union activities.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The Sioux Falls School District’s current collective bargaining agreements and some district policies require union representation during some conversations/meetings with employees. Additionally, the SFEA working agreement allows for 40 days of pay association leave for members.




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House Bill 1205 Introduced by: Representatives Heinemann, Campbell, Clark, DiSanto, Goodwin, Holmes, McCleerey, McPherson, Mills, Otten (Herman), Rasmussen, Rounds, Rozum, Schaefer, Steinhauer, and York and Senators Solano, Frerichs, Killer, Klumb, Kolbeck, Nelson, Rusch, Soholt, Tapio, White, and Youngberg Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to require certain health benefit plans to provide coverage to medically compromised persons for certain dental care services.

Impact: This bill requires health plans to provide coverage for anesthesia for dental services, when the services administered in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center. The coverage requirement under the bill is restricted to young children under age 5, persons who are developmentally disabled, and individuals who are medically compromised to an extent that they are unable to undergo a dental procedure without anesthesia.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1211 Introduced by: Representatives Qualm, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Glanzer, Karr, May, Rhoden, and Rounds and Senators Stalzer, Cronin, Curd, Greenfield (Brock), Klumb, Kolbeck, Novstrup, and Youngberg Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to require that certain property tax opt out decisions be referred to a vote.

Impact: This bill requires school district opt outs to be referred to a vote.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The state does not require a public vote to increase its own tax revenues greater than three percent (3%) or inflation, whichever is less. It does not require a vote of an opt out for any other local taxing entity. This bill is a direct assault on the ability of locally elected school boards to conduct their business. If the sponsors of this bill are concerned that South Dakota’s taxpayers are over-taxed, they are barking up the wrong tree. Since the per pupil (now per teacher based on the number of pupil) formula began in 1998 School property taxes are down as a percent of total property taxes paid in the state, the growth in school property taxes has been drastically out-paced by the growth in the sales tax, and the percent of the state budget devoted to K-12 education has shrunk an equivalent of dozens of millions of dollars. School taxes are down compared to all other entities and it is not due to the state providing tax relief as state funding of K-12 education, including property relief, is down as well. School taxes are low because the state imposes limits on school spending that it is not willing to impose on itself. The sponsors of this bill inexplicably seek to go even further. This bill should be hoghoused to provide mandatory legislative training on South Dakota tax increases and tax expenditures since 1998.




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House Bill 1215 Introduced by: Representatives Gosch, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Kaiser, Lake, Livermont, Marty, Pischke, Schoenfish, and Wiese and Senators Cronin, Greenfield (Brock), Wiik, and Youngberg Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding reorganization of certain school districts with low enrollment.

Impact: This bill revises certain details regarding forced reorganization of extremely small school districts..

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1221 Introduced by: Representatives May, Bordeaux, Lake, Lesmeister, Livermont, and Zikmund and Senators Killer, Heinert, Jensen (Phil), Nelson, Otten (Ernie), and Russell Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to expand the partners in education tax credit program to include tribally controlled schools on a federally recognized Indian reservation.

Impact: This bill adds tribal schools (who receive less than 50 percent of their funds from government sources) to the private school tuition credit program.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1232 Introduced by: Representatives Karr, Brunner, Campbell, Gosch, Greenfield (Lana), Howard, Marty, May, Pischke, and Wiese and Senators Greenfield (Brock), Frerichs, Haverly, and Jensen (Phil) Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to revise the payment for the dual credit program.

Impact: This bill revises the dual credit to allow students in grades 9, 10, 11 or 12 to take courses at post-secondary institutions. The bill removes the language that the state or school may pay all or part of the tuition and places payment responsibility to the student for all tuition and fees. Revised House Bill 1232 provides opportunities for high school students to participate in a dual credit with state universities and technical schools. The bill outlines a reduced tuition rate making dual credit affordable to all students by including the guidelines for students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch under the federal free or reduced lunch program.

Position: The District opposes this bill because it transfers all payment responsibility to the student removing the school district or state with the option to assist with fees associated with dual credit supports HB 1232 as amended. HB 1232 provides affordable dual credit opportunities for all students.




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House Bill 1239 Introduced by: Representatives Reed, Barthel, Bartling, Gosch, Hawley, Jamison, Kettwig, Ring, Steinhauer, Wismer, and Zikmund and Senators Novstrup, Frerichs, and Sutton Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the inspection and copying of public records.

Impact: This bill clarifies the correspondence that is exempt from public disclosure. The communications that would be exempt from disclosure includes: (1) Communication from a constituent to a public official or employee that clearly implies by its nature or content that the constituent expects that it is confidential; (2) Communication from a constituent to a public official or employee for the purpose of requesting assistance or information relating to a personal and private matter that is not publicly known affecting the constituent; or (3) Communication from public official or employee in response to a communication specified in subdivision (1) or (2) of this section.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Currently, the correspondence of public officials or employees is exempt from disclosure. This bill significantly limits the correspondence that would be exempt from disclosure. Further, the communications that are listed as exempt from disclosure are indeterminate, as the public entity would have to make a judgement on the intent of the constituent. House Bill 1240 Introduced by: Representatives Duvall, Chase, Glanzer, Lake, and Rounds and Senators Monroe, Cronin, Maher, and White Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding capital outlay funding for schools.

Impact: This bill increases the alternative maximum amount (which actually is a limiting factor) schools can raise through the capital outlay tax. The bill also allows a capital outlay levy sufficiently enough to pay capital outlay certificates issued before July 1, 2016 plus $500 per student.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This bill is aimed at increasing the capital outlay levy primarily for school districts that are already above average in the per student amount. It also allows school districts who have over-leveraged their capital outlay fund via CO Certificates by guaranteeing them $500 per student above that amount, even if the new mil rate exceeds $3.00 – the old and still current maximum mil rate. The Legislature should be amending these limits to allow school districts that are below average in the amount per student they can raise via the capital outlay fund to tax a $3.00 mil rate until they are at the average statewide average.




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House Bill 1242 Introduced by: Representatives Smith, Ahlers, Bordeaux, Jamison, Mickelson, Reed, and Schoenfish and Senators Maher, Kennedy, Killer, and Nesiba James Nold 367-5384

An Act to provide for freedom of expression for students in school-sponsored media.

Impact: This bill would allow students in a high school journalism course the freedom of expression in reporting information free from editorial review of the supervisor and school.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The course is a high school course that would need to operate under the expectations of the school and the views delivered by the students would reflect both positively and negatively on the school. Given the previous information, the school should have editorial rights. Learning the art and science of journalism should take place in an environment that allows for mistakes to be made in an insulated environment. Parents, and the public, expect the principal to make sound judgments in accordance with policy, laws and community norms. This bill strips that authority from the principal. House Bill 1253 Introduced by: Representatives Bordeaux, Ahlers, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, Smith, and Wismer and Senators Heinert, Frerichs, Kennedy, Killer, and Nesiba James Nold 367-5384

An Act to require schools to provide instruction on South Dakota's tribal history, culture, and government.

Impact: This bill would require every school in the state that is accredited by the Department of Education to provide instruction on South Dakota's tribal history, culture, and government in conjunction with neighboring Indian tribes.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1256 Introduced by: Representatives Kaiser, Brunner, Campbell, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Goodwin, Howard, Jensen (Kevin), Latterell, Livermont, Marty, May, and Pischke and Senators Jensen (Phil), Monroe, Nelson, and Netherton James Nold 367-5384

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the age at which children shall begin school.

Impact: This bill is attempting to move the compulsory attendance age from the range of 5 to 6 years of age to a start age of 7 to 8.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This bill would move the mandatory start age for students by two years, thus making seniors graduate at 20 years of age potentially. The required age of enrollment for students is currently until age 18 or graduation. This bill would allow sophomores to drop out of school if desired. This bill, if made into law, would not be good for our community.




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House Bill 1262 Introduced by: Representatives Schoenfish, Gosch, Greenfield (Lana), Kettwig, Mills, Peterson (Kent), Rozum, and Tulson and Senators Greenfield (Brock), Frerichs, Klumb, Maher, and Nelson Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to exclude certain funds from the calculation of local effort in the state aid to education formula.

Impact: This bill eliminates the phase in of certain other funds into the general state aid formula and excludes them from the calculation..

Position: The District opposes this bill. The Legislature finally was able to equalize other revenue two years ago with a substantial change in the formula. Un-equalizing those revenue sources would be backtracking. House Bill 1263 Introduced by: Representative Schoenfish and Senators Frerichs and Killer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to increase the allowable general fund cash balances for school districts.

Impact: This bill increases the allowable general fund balance percentage by 10 percentage points for each category of school (large districts – over 600 – would increase from 25% to 35%).

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1271 Introduced by: Representatives Brunner, Campbell, Glanzer, Jensen (Kevin), Kaiser, May, Pischke, Rhoden, Rounds, and Wiese and Senators Langer, Greenfield (Brock), Maher, Netherton, Russell, and Wiik Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the carrying of certain guns on certain premises.

Impact: This bill appears to be cleaning up some language, but has added the exceptions of non-public schools and churches.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill.




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House Bill 1272 Introduced by: Representatives Brunner, Greenfield (Lana), Jensen (Kevin), Kaiser, Latterell, Marty, Peterson (Sue), Rounds, and Wiese and Senators Monroe, Klumb, and Kolbeck James Nold 367-5384

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding a certificate of excuse for school attendance.

Impact: This bill removes the requirements that home schooled applications need to be notarized or have two witnesses to complete the application. The bill also takes away the immediate action of a school board to rescind the home-school status, but still allows the board to do so.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. House Bill 1276 Introduced by: Representatives Peterson (Sue), Campbell, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Goodwin, Jamison, Kaiser, Livermont, Marty, May, Wiese, and Zikmund and Senators Monroe, Greenfield (Brock), Jensen (Phil), Netherton, and Stalzer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to provide a property tax exemption to parents of certain students receiving alternative instruction.

Impact: This bill allows parents of home schooled students to not have to pay general fund school property tax levies if their child is not allowed to participate in any activity offered by a school in the district.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This bill is poor public policy. There are numerous taxpayer-supported activities throughout state and local governments that taxpayers would like to get refunds on for not being allowed to participate. Should individuals who try to sign up for Medicaid and are turned down receive a rebate on the portion of their State taxes that go to supporting Medicaid? No. The elected Legislature sets the rules for Medicaid eligibility and not everyone is going to qualify. Likewise, elected school boards set the rules for activity eligibility and not everyone will qualify.




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House Bill 1290 Introduced by: Representatives Jensen (Kevin), Brunner, Clark, Greenfield (Lana), Kaiser, and Willadsen and Senators Novstrup and Rusch Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act for disclosure of certain contents of public-private partnership agreements and to provide a penalty for failure to disclose.

Impact:

This bill would require a 30-day public opportunity for inspection when a public body plans to enter into an agreement with a private person, firm, corporation if the subject of the agreements is a project exceeding $500,000 and the private entity will operate, control or profit from the subject of the agreement. The information open for inspection includes: the subject of the agreement; amount to be expended by both parties; identity of the parties and those with a financial or ownership.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This bill is unnecessary because public contract procedures and processes are comprehensively governed in other areas of state law including, but not limited to: 13-20 School District Purchases and Contracts; 5-18A Public Agency Procurement – General Provisions; 5-18B Procurement of Public Improvements. There may be instances in which a public body needs to enter into an agreement in an expedited (less than 30 days) timeframe. House Bill 1296 Introduced by: Representatives Goodwin, Brunner, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Howard, Livermont, and Peterson (Sue) and Senators Jensen (Phil) and Nelson Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to require each school board to establish a policy on the use of certain school district facilities by transgender persons.

Impact:

This bill would require each school board to create a policy regarding the use of the bathrooms and locker rooms located in schools within the school district by any transgender person. The bill defines a transgender person as a person whose gender identity does not match the person's biological sex assigned at birth. The person's biological sex is the physical condition of being male or female as determined by the person's chromosomes and anatomy as identified at birth.

Position: The District opposes this bill. When a school district provides a reasonable accommodation to a student, the district, student, and parent enter into an interactive accommodation process. The best accommodations for both school and student are created when all parties are focused on the individual nature of the particular situation. The requirement that the district have a policy would significantly limit the flexibility and creativity that comes from engaging in an interactive accommodation process.




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House Bill 1297 Introduced by: Representatives Gosch, Duvall, Kaiser, Lake, Lesmeister, May, Qualm, Rhoden, and Rounds and Senators Greenfield (Brock), Cronin, and Langer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding capital outlay obligations.

Impact: This bill eliminates the 2022 per pupil alternative capital outlay maximums for schools that have outstanding debt for capital outlay certificates originally issued prior July 1, 2016. Currently this exception is triggered only if the limitation will cause the district to default on the certificates.

Position: The District would amend this bill. The exception should apply to both new capital outlay limitation as of July 1, 2016 (the more common limitation is growth of percent or inflation, whichever is less plus new construction). The exception currently contained in the bill is only for the districts that receive the most capital outlay dollars per student. House Bill 1298 Introduced by: Representative Gosch and Senator Cronin Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to allow certain school districts to become nonpublic districts.

Impact: This bill allows the residents of school districts that are currently forced to consolidate because of low numbers to instead vote to become a private school system. The new system would not be eligible for public funds.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Over time there would there be pockets of private school systems throughout the state where the land owners pay no school property taxes. House Bill 1299 Introduced by: Representative Gosch Robert Bray 367-5299

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the lawful possession of firearms in certain locations.

Impact: This bill would prevent local jurisdictions from imposing firearms restrictions.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The entire bill is vague in definition of "campus" and "area." Most legal interpretations of the term "campus" refer to schools, colleges, and universities. The bill conceivably would require school districts to either add staff to monitor entrances or to purchase metal detectors for every entrance. Additionally, there is no reference to the current exemption/ restriction in SDCL 13-32-7, firearms at schools.




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House Bill 1303 Introduced by: Representatives Campbell, Brunner, Frye-Mueller, Goodwin, Jensen (Kevin), Latterell, Livermont, and Marty and Senators Nelson, Russell, Stalzer, and Tapio Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to prohibit certain incentives and punishments in association with school surveys, and to impose a penalty therefor.

Impact: The federal and South Dakota governments have a requirement that certain types of personal information surveys administered to students require prior written consent of the parent or adult student. This bill: 1) prohibits a teacher, school administrator, or any other person from offering any incentive to any student or parent in association with any survey; 2) states that students cannot be punished for not participating in a survey; and 3) establishes that a violation of the student survey law is a class 1 misdemeanor.

Position: The District opposes this bill. A student survey is a tool which provides valuable firsthand information to a district and/or agency partners. Some, but not all, surveys ask sensitive personal information – in which case prior written consent is required. In certain circumstances, an incentive to participate in a survey is appropriate; and certainly should not be a crime. House Bill 1314 Introduced by: Representatives Lake, Peterson (Kent), and Rozum and Senators Cronin, Greenfield (Brock), Klumb, and Nelson Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to certain provisions regarding the calculation of fall enrollment for the purposes of education funding.

Impact: This bill reinstates two-year averaging in the State Aid formula for declining enrollment schools.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This provision was eliminated to pay for increasing the small school factor from 20 to 25 percent. If the State has enough money to pay for the cost of adding this provision back in, it should be increasing the formula for all districts instead of freezing the allocation (after a 0.3% increase last year). House Bill 1315 Introduced by: Representative Lake and Senator Cronin Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to accommodate legislation regarding education funding.

Impact:

This bill is a placeholder for school funding legislation.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill at this time.




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Senate Bill 36 Introduced by: The Committee on Retirement Laws at the request of the South Dakota Retirement System Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the South Dakota Retirement System.

Impact: This bill amends provisions within the South Dakota Retirement System.


Senate Bill 37 Introduced by: The Committee on Retirement Laws at the request of the South Dakota Retirement System Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise the automatic enrollment provisions of the deferred compensation plan of the South Dakota Retirement System.

Impact: This bill revises the automatic enrollment provisions of the deferred compensation plan of the South Dakota Retirement System. It does not require non-automatic enrollment entities to become auto-enrollees.


Senate Bill 46 Introduced by: The Committee on Education at the request of the Department of Education Kate Bartell-Nowak 367-4670

An Act to require school districts to adopt a policy limiting the use of restraint and seclusion.

Impact: This bill has been amended to require all school districts to adopt a policy for school district employees on the use of restraint and seclusion. The policy must require: immediate notification of parent/guardian; a prohibition of prone restraint; a prohibition of involuntary confinement; and training on crisis prevention and proper use of restraint/seclusion.

Position: The District supports this bill as amended. The Sioux Falls School District (SFSD) has a comprehensive policy and training program on crisis prevention and use of restraint/seclusion. The SFSD policy would need to be revised to include the specific prohibitions; however it is not anticipated that the District’s training and practices would require any significant changes.




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Senate Bill 66 Introduced by: Senators Bolin, Solano, and Stalzer and Representatives Brunner and Peterson (Sue) Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to require each school board to post certain information regarding school elections on the school district website. This bill was amended in and passed the Senate Education Committee to change the phrase “on the school district website” to “in the school district minutes.”

Impact: This bill would require school districts to post:

(1) The number of eligible voters residing in the school district at the time of the election; (2) The number of eligible voters residing in the school district who voted in the election; (3) The percentage of eligible voters residing in the school district who voted in the election; and (4) If the election was held in conjunction with a regular municipal election as provided in

§13-7-10.1 or with the regular June primary as provided in §13-7-10.3 (5) If no election to be held

Position: The District opposes this bill. This appears to be another bill singling out school districts for new requirements with no apparent good reason. If the information called for in this bill is important, all levels of government that perform elections (including the state) should be required to provide this information.

Senate Bill 83 Introduced by: Senators Rusch, Cammack, Nelson, Stalzer, and Youngberg and Representatives Smith, Duvall, Johnson, Lesmeister, Mickelson, Rasmussen, Reed, Rounds, and Turbiville Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to authorize certain patriotic societies access to public schools.

Impact: This bill allows patriotic societies (defined as a youth membership group or organization listed in title 36 of the United States Code) to speak to students at each public school during the first quarter one day at the beginning of each school year. The patriotic society would provide notice to the principal on the intent to speak, and the principal shall then allow the patriotic society to speak to students during school hours to inform them about the civic involvement of the society, and to explain how students may participate or join. A school principal has discretion over the time, place, and manner when representatives of a patriotic society are allowed to speak to students.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Determination of outside organization access to students is best determined by each individual school board. There are over 90 organizations listed as patriotic societies in Title 36 of the US Code. Even if the principal has discretion over the time, place and manner of when the representatives are able to speak with students, allowing the opportunity for even a portion of these groups to talk to students during the school day has the potential to take away valuable learning time. In policy, the SFSD has developed a balance between limiting its forums and making outside information available to students; this legislation removes the school board’s control over this finely tuned balance.




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Senate Bill 84 Introduced by: Senators Rusch, Cronin, Frerichs, Heinert, Kennedy, Monroe, Nelson, Nesiba, Novstrup, Stalzer, and Youngberg and Representatives Johnson, Bartling, Frye-Mueller, Heinemann, Jensen (Kevin), Kaiser, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Rasmussen, Ring, Smith, Steinhauer, and Willadsen Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding public records.

Impact: This bill would require public entities to make public a summary of any settlement of a legal claim involving monetary damages, equitable relief, or a violation of any statute or rule. The summary would include: identity of the parties; terms of the settlement agreement; any payment made by the public entity; and/or any action to be taken by the public entity. The bill oes not prohibit a judge from sealing any part of the record of a legal proceeding other than the summary or settlement agreement. This amended bill would prevent public entities from entering into a settlement agreement with any third party involving claims for monetary damages or equitable relief in which the settlement agreement requires nondisclosure or confidentiality as terms of the settlement. Makes settlement agreements public record. Does not prohibit a judge from sealing any part of the record of a legal proceeding other than the summary or settlement agreement.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Confidentiality is a key component to reach a settlement agreement among the parties to a legal dispute. Without this component, settlement options will become less appealing to each of the parties involved in a dispute and therefore increases the likelihood each party expends more resources with litigation.

Senate Bill 86 Introduced by: Senators Peters, Bolin, Cammack, Frerichs, Greenfield (Brock), Haverly, Klumb, Kolbeck, Langer, Otten (Ernie), Solano, Stalzer, Tidemann, and Youngberg and Representatives Willadsen, Ahlers, Bartels, Bartling, Brunner, Clark, Dennert, Duvall, Hawley, Holmes, Jamison, Kettwig, Latterell, Lust, McCleerey, Pischke, Rozum, Schaefer, Schoenfish, Smith, Steinhauer, Tulson, and Zikmund Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain requirements when a local unit of government sells surplus property through a real estate broker.

Impact: This bill reduces the requirement that a public body receives at least 90 percent of appraised value of real property before selling it via public auction or through a real estate broker. Position: The District supports this bill.




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Senate Bill 87 Introduced by: Senators Monroe, Ewing, Kolbeck, Nelson, Netherton, Otten (Ernie), and Youngberg and Representatives Gosch, Campbell, Kaiser, Rounds, and Zikmund Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the lawful possession of firearms in certain locations.

Impact: This bill creates a requirement that no building, structure, park, campus or other areas may be posted as a firearm-free zone unless reasonable precautions are made to detect the presence of firearms. This amended bill creates a requirement that no building, structure, park, campus, or other area may be posted as a firearm-free zone unless any person entering the area is required to pass through an electronic device to detect the presence of a firearm on the body of that person or unless personnel trained by the entity or a delegate of the entity posting the area are located in the area. The provisions do not apply to: Any county courthouse; the state capitol; or any law enforcement office or building.

Position: The District opposes this bill for the following reasons: 1. State law, SDCL 13-27-7, prohibits firearms on school premises without a requirement for

posting or detection. “School premises” includes open outdoor space- making the requirements of this law impractical.

2. This appears to create a significant financial burden on school districts having to post and install detection devices, fencing in all property, and/or have a 24/7 trained presence on the property.

3. Why are three entities carved out of these requirements, and school districts are not carved out? This is of particular concern when it is state law that prohibits any firearm on school premises.

Senate Bill 89 Introduced by: Senators Bolin, Curd, Klumb, Monroe, Soholt, Solano, and Stalzer and Representatives Jensen (Kevin), Beal, Bordeaux, Brunner, Clark, Frye-Mueller, Glanzer, Johns, Latterell, Peterson (Sue), Pischke, Smith, Steinhauer, Stevens, and Zikmund Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to establish term limits for members of the Board of Education Standards.

Impact: This bill limits each member of the SD Board of Education to three consecutive terms of three years each, but allows the individual to be reappointed after having been out of the position for at least two years.





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Senate Bill 94 Introduced by: Senators Kolbeck, Curd, Greenfield (Brock), Jensen (Phil), Klumb, Langer, Nelson, Netherton, Rusch, and Stalzer and Representatives Peterson (Sue), Barthel, Beal, Bordeaux, Brunner, Campbell, Chase, Clark, Dennert, Diedrich, DiSanto, Duvall, Frye-Mueller, Glanzer, Goodwin, Greenfield (Lana), Haugaard, Heinemann, Howard, Jamison, Jensen (Kevin), Johnson, Latterell, Lesmeister, Livermont, Lust, Marty, May, McCleerey, McPherson, Mills, Pischke, Qualm, Rasmussen, Reed, Rhoden, Rounds, Schaefer, Schoenfish, Smith, Steinhauer, Wiese, York, and Zikmund Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to establish certain provisions regarding the opportunity scholarship program.

Impact: This bill added the following language to allow Home School students the ability to be eligible for the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship. A transcript of completed comparable coursework issued by the parent or guardian listed on the certificate of excuse that meets the course requirements of §13-55-31 would have to be provided. Senate Bill 94 has added the following language to allow Home School students the ability to be eligible for the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship.

(1) Provide a transcript of completed comparable coursework issued by the parent or (2) guardian listed on the certificate of excuse that meets the course requirements of §13-55-31;

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. Senate Bill 100 Introduced by: Senators Peters, Bolin, Cammack, Cronin, Curd, Ewing, Greenfield (Brock), Haverly, Heinert, Klumb, Kolbeck, Langer, Maher, Monroe, Novstrup, Otten (Ernie), Partridge, Soholt, Solano, Stalzer, Sutton, Tidemann, Wiik, and Youngberg and Representatives Schoenfish, Bartels, Barthel, Brunner, Carson, Conzet, Diedrich, Duvall, Greenfield (Lana), Holmes, Hunhoff, Johns, Lake, Lust, Otten (Herman), Peterson (Kent), Qualm, Reed, Rhoden, Rounds, Rozum, Steinhauer, Turbiville, Willadsen, and Wismer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to establish certain provisions related to grant monitoring and review.

Impact: This bill requires public entities to make their audits available on their website and provide the audit to their board members. It also requires state entities to make subrecipient grant reviews public and limits conflicts of interest for those State employees and officers who are involved in determining subgrant recipients.

Position: The District supports this bill.




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Senate Bill 109 Introduced by: Senators Jensen (Phil), Greenfield (Brock), Nelson, Netherton, Otten (Ernie), and Stalzer and Representatives May, Campbell, Dennert, DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Gosch, Greenfield (Lana), Howard, Latterell, Peterson (Sue), Pischke, Rasmussen, and Zikmund Deb Muilenburg-Wilson 367-7950

An Act to repeal the licensing requirements for interpreters for the deaf.

Impact: This bill repeals the licensing requirements for interpreters of the deaf.

Position: The District opposes this bill. The District employs interpreters of the deaf to provide accessible communication for youth who are deaf in its schools. The District seeks to have highly qualified individuals in these positions and the certification process is one aspect of ensuring qualifications are met. Senate Bill 117 Introduced Senators Stalzer, Jensen (Phil), Klumb, Kolbeck, Monroe, Nelson, Netherton, Novstrup, Otten (Ernie), Rusch, Solano, and Wiik and Representatives Heinemann, Barthel, Brunner, Clark, DiSanto, Haugaard, Holmes, Howard, Latterell, Mills, Pischke, Qualm, Rhoden, Ring, Rounds, Schoenfish, Turbiville, Wiese, and Zikmund Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the partners in education tax credit program.

Impact: This bill strikes the requirement in the private school scholarship program that the scholarship be paid in two semi-annual installments, as well as makes other clean-up amendments.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. Senate Bill 121 Introduced by: Senators Nesiba, Frerichs, Heinert, Killer, and Sutton and Representatives Ahlers, Bartling, Hawley, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, and Smith Becky Dorman 367-7944

An Act to prohibit employers from obtaining, seeking, or using certain prior salary information.

Impact: This bill is attempting to prohibit employers from learning former wage information on an applicant/new employee.

Position: The District takes no position on this bill. Many applicants do not list their wages on applications. The Sioux Falls School District requires written consent before verifying wage information.




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Senate Bill 131 Introduced by: Senators Sutton, Frerichs, Greenfield (Brock), Heinert, Kennedy, Killer, Maher, and Nesiba and Representatives Hawley, Ahlers, Bartling, Bordeaux, Kettwig, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, Schoenfish, Smith, Wismer, and Zikmund Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to create the career and technical education consortium grant program and the career and technical education consortium fund.

Impact: This bill creates the career and technical education consortium grant program and the career and technical education consortium fund. To be eligible for the grant three or more district must work collaboratively in creative and innovative ways to enhance CTE opportunities for the students in their districts. The grant awards my total one million dollars in fiscal year 2019 and in each of the following four fiscal years.

Position: The District supports this bill. Grant funding provides opportunities for innovation and collaboration to develop expanded opportunities for students. Senate Bill 132 Introduced by: Senators Sutton, Frerichs, Haverly, Heinert, Kennedy, Killer, Nesiba, Peters, and White and Representatives Holmes, Ahlers, Barthel, Bartling, Bordeaux, Diedrich, Hawley, Johns, Johnson, Kettwig, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, Rozum, Schoenfish, Smith, and Wismer Deb Muilenburg-Wilson 367-7956

An Act to establish the Early Learning Advisory Council.

Impact: This bill establishes an Early Learning Advisory Council and defines its membership and responsibilities.

Position: The District supports this bill. Senate Bill 142 Introduced by: Senator Nelson and Representatives Goodwin, Brunner, and Peterson (Sue) Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to authorize an opt out of school board approved installment purchase contracts, lease purchase contracts, or capital outlay certificates.

Impact: This bill provides an opt out and opt out procedures similar to the general fund opt out for capital outlay certificates.

Position: The District supports this bill.




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Senate Bill 143 Introduced by: Senator Nelson and Representative Pischke Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to authorize any contributing member of the state retirement plan to be a participating member of the state health plan.

Impact: This bill requires all employees in the state who are eligible for SDRS to be members of the state health plan

Position: The District opposes this bill. School districts and other local public entities operate their own health plans, often as negotiated with their employees. These negotiations should not be thrown out to help subsidize the State plan which covers the services the State sees fit to cover. This bill should be optional. Senate Bill 145 Introduced by: Senators Maher, Curd, Greenfield (Brock), Langer, Monroe, Novstrup, Peters, Stalzer, Wiik, and Youngberg and Representatives Peterson (Kent), Anderson, DiSanto, Hawley, Heinemann, Kettwig, Mickelson, Qualm, Reed, Willadsen, and Zikmund Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to revise certain provisions related to claims regarding workers' compensation.

Impact: This bill clarifies that the Department of Labor is the exclusive fact-finder for any issue related to the administration of workers compensation laws, including assessing attorney’s fees for vexatious or unreasonable refusal to pay loss and creates such procedure.

Position: The District supports this bill. The Department of Labor is the statutory fact finder for workers compensation issues and should also be responsible for determining the facts regarding a claim of bad faith.

Senate Bill 148 Introduced by: Senators Heinert, Cronin, Frerichs, Kennedy, Killer, Nelson, Nesiba, Peters, Stalzer, and Sutton and Representatives Bordeaux, Ahlers, Bartling, Hawley, and Lesmeister Dr. Teresa Boysen 367-7916

An Act to revise the list of organizations that may approve and accredit a nonpublic school.

Impact: This bill addresses the regulation of high school interscholastic activities to an association. Minor language clean up in the bill and added Commission for Oceti Sakowin Accreditation (COSA) as a recognized organization that can delegate supervision and regulation to high school interscholastic activities.





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Senate Bill 160 Introduced by: Senators Jensen (Phil) and Nelson Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to prohibit certain gender identity instruction in public schools.

Impact: This bill prohibits instruction in gender identity or gender expression to any student in kindergarten to seventh grade in any public school in the state.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Instruction on gender is appropriate in some circumstances for students in kindergarten to seventh grade. Senate Bill 162 Introduced by: Senators Heinert, Kennedy, Killer, Langer, Nelson, Nesiba, Peters, Sutton, and Youngberg and Representatives Bartling, Ahlers, Bordeaux, Hawley, Lesmeister, McCleerey, Ring, Schaefer, Smith, and Wismer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to prohibit school lunch shaming.

Impact: This bill requires schools to serve students a full school lunch regardless of whether the student pays for it.

Position: The District opposes this bill. This is an unfunded mandate. The State should appropriate money to reimburse the cost of unpaid meals if it wishes to adopt this bill. Senate Bill 192 Introduced by: Senators Sutton, Frerichs, Heinert, Kennedy, Killer, Nelson, Nesiba, and Russell and Representatives May, Ahlers, Bartling, Bordeaux, Frye-Mueller, Hawley, Howard, Kaiser, Lesmeister, Livermont, McCleerey, Peterson (Sue), Rasmussen, Ring, Smith, and Wismer Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to provide for the disclosure of certain documents and records of public officials.

Impact: Currently there is a public records exemption for personal correspondence, memoranda, notes, calendars or appointment logs, or other personal records. This bill states that such exemption does not apply to official and employees of state agencies.

Position: The District opposes this bill. Particularly when opinions, policies, recommendations, etc. are in a draft or unfinished format, such records should not be public record. It seems that making such records public would hinder sound decision and policymaking.




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Senate Bill 202 Introduced by Senators Jensen (Phil) and Nelson and Representatives Brunner,

DiSanto, Frye-Mueller, Goodwin, Gosch, Livermont, Marty, and Peterson (Sue)

Kate Bartell Nowak 367-4670

An Act to require posting of certain notice on certain public restrooms.

Impact:

Currently there is a public records exemption for personal correspondence, memoranda, notes,

calendars or appointment logs, or other personal records. This bill states that such exemption does

not apply to official and employees of state agencies.

Position:

The District opposes this bill. Particularly when opinions, policies, recommendations, etc. are in a

draft or unfinished format, such records should not be public record. It seems that making such

records public would hinder sound decision and policymaking.

Senate Bill 212 Introduced by: Senators Heinert, Frerichs, Kennedy, Killer, Maher, Nelson,

Peters, Russell, and Sutton and Representatives Bordeaux, Ahlers, Bartling, Hawley, Lesmeister,

Livermont, May, McCleerey, Ring, Schoenfish, Smith, and Wismer Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications

assistance to schools.

Impact:

This bill adds tribally-controlled or Bureau of Indian Education schools to those that can receive,

where feasible, telecommunication services provided by the Bureau of Information and Technology.

Position:

The District takes no position on this bill.

Senate Bill 213 Introduced by: Senator Heinert Todd Vik 367-7909

An Act to revise certain education funding provisions.

Impact:

This bill provides that certain education funding provisions be revised to address the consumer

price index.

Position:

The District takes no position on this bill.

positions are updated as positions on 2018 pending ... · district 10 – jenna netherton, doug...

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