Pierre's budget chickens are coming home to roost. The Yankton School District shows us what the new state budget will mean for many local taxpayers: higher taxes. At their Monday meeting, the Yankton school board passed a $4.175-million annual property tax opt-out. They need the money to make up for the state budget cuts to education:
[Yankton business manager Jason] Bietz said when the district combines the 8.6 percent reduction to the per student allocation passed by the 2011 state Legislature ($4,804.60 down to $4,389.95) with the ongoing structural deficit — even considering the one-time funding found at the end of the legislative session, which brought the cuts for this year down to 6.6 percent — the district is actually facing a 10.3 percent decrease in revenues from the current budget.
"I think this is the right thing to do," said board president Mike Stevens. "We have had a great education system in Yankton for decades and we have worked very hard at providing a great education. I don't see any reason to dismantle it now [Shauna Marlette, "Facing "˜Financial Tsunami,' YSD Approves $4.1M Opt-Out," Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2011.03.15].
Out west, the Rapid City school district plans to freeze spending, cut staff through attrition, and drain reserves to delay "inevitable" budget cuts. In other words, fewer jobs, fewer opportunities for kids.
Not only has the state legislature made life hard for school districts as a whole; the state is also reneging on a promise to compensate teachers for engaging in costly national certification processes. The state owes these teachers $76,000, but the Appropriations Committee voted 15&ndash3 to deny them that money... even as it voted 14&ndash4 to spend $100,000 to fund interim studies.
For the deteriorating state of education in South Dakota, send your thank you notes to Governor Dennis Daugaard, Senator Jean Hunhoff of Yankton, and Senate Majority Leader Russell Olson.
I'm still trying to figure out what is bad with a local district giving the voters a choice of reducing cuts or increasing local taxes.
A flat 10% across the board cut does not identify specific waste in various departments or state programs that are no longer viable for funding. It is what simple people do to address a complex problem. The Governor saved money by transfering the State's obligated expenses to all of us, as local taxpayers. Taxpayers saved nothing and will in fact, pay much more locally through school opt outs property tax increases and county indigent funding. Will this be Governor Daugaard's one-term waterloo?
[CAH: It will be, Rod, if you help me fundraise and vote for Democrats in 2012 and 2014!]
Is Stephanie Herseth Sandlin running in 2014 against Governor Daugaard?
[CAH: Unlikely, Rod: she has closed her campaign committee. But I'm sure we can find you someone you'll pick over a second term of the status quo.]