001We're going to call tonight's meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Well, hi Dr. Nold. >> Hello. >> I hear you have the good news report this evening for us. >> I do. Uh we got the backup in today. She has laryngitis or or something very similar. Um at least for the moment being it's it's momentary. Uh I do have the good news report this evening and I'm just going to read this proclamation off and this is an executive proclamation by the state of South Dakota and the office of the governor. Whereas the education of our public school children is vital to our
002state's prosperity and to the opening of doors of opportunity for every citizen. And whereas the 845 men and women serving on public school boards are dedicated local leaders who devote many hours of community service to provide a responsive and transformative public education system to maximize South Dakota's investment in public education. And whereas local public school board members believe all children can learn and are committed to improvement, excellence, and progress in public education. And whereas a local school board devotes great time and effort to planning curriculum, policy, activities, and programs that enhance the experience of and the environment for all students as well as staff and also best suit their communities. And whereas the members of the local public school board build stronger relationships within their communities to ensure the success of their school district. And
003whereas we encourage local public school districts and their community leaders to recognize their dedicated public school board members. Now therefore, I, Larry Rhoden, governor of the state of South Dakota, do hereby proclaim February 16th, 2026 as the 2026 South Dakota School Board Recognition Week in South Dakota, signed by Governor Larry Rhoden. So, we just want to take this time to say thank you. Uh we often know that schoolboard officials uh are are often doing incredible work um to make sure that our public schools are safe places where kids can go to school and we fulfill that mission to gain an education. And when it was truly set in there for all students, we truly mean that every single student is welcome to our schools and come into our school to gain that education and it's
004individualized for each and every child that they can take the program that they need. And you as the school board is the heart and soul of that. You set the policy, you set the programming, you set the road and the path for us to be able to follow. So, we thank you for your your efforts, your dedication. Uh the time that it takes often goes unnoticed, but not unnoticed by those individuals that you are impacting. So, we thank you for the work that you do on a continual basis, and we just want to express our appreciation. Next week is the week of the school board recognition, but obviously we do not have the meeting next week. So, we wanted to make sure that we recognized it now here today. So, thank you for the work
005that we you do and we do have a small uh token of appreciation uh that we'll hand to you at this time. You may be able to tell that that Mr. Conrad colored one card and and Dr. Z colored the other. You will guess which is which. >> Just for Very nice. >> I'm joking. They were all signed by different people. But thank you for the work that you do. And that's obviously just a small token of our appreciation. You'll see in one of the cards that many of the elementary students had signed that in appreciation for what you do. And so we thank you for that. Uh Miss Duffy, we will get yours as soon as we possibly can. But next week is a day or a week of recognition for our school board
006members. And again, we thank you. Uh we will have an upcoming session for anybody interested ever in becoming a school board member. uh whether it's this year or years to come to come in and get anformational message and we'll get that information out to our community, but we want to make sure that we thank and recognize the board members that we have now. So, a sincere thank you. The second half of our recognition is with our kindergarten and junior kindergarten and Miss McDaniel will give that information. Good evening and thank you for all you do as our schoolboard members. Uh I am here this evening to share information about our junior kindergarten and kindergarten kickoff coming to you from elementary programming as we begin recruiting for our 2039 and 2040 graduates. If you can imagine,
007on March, there we go. On March 12th from 4 to 6, our elementary buildings will welcome new players to our kickoff event for the 2627 season. All families who have a 5-year-old honor before September 20 or September 1st of 2026 are welcome to the event being hosted at our elementary buildings. The event is an opportunity to get a glimpse into kindergarten classrooms, meet teachers, and engage in some fun learning activities to set the course for their K12 trajectory. If parents are unsure or families are unsure about sending their child to kindergarten, we do have an option for our junior kindergarten program. And again, this is just a great opportunity for families to come have conversations with classroom teachers, with administration about um the experiences that they would have in junior kindergarten. We have three locations
008across the city. JFK is on our southwest side, Robert Frost, right here in Central Sou Falls. And our newest location for 2627 will be Terry Redland Elementary in our northeast quadrant. After finding the best fit for your player, you can be assured they will have championship programming. They will have instruction in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies, and then an abundance of opportunities to build relationships with their classmates along the way, uh focusing in on those social skills. Our online registration is open for both kindergarten and junior kindergarten at this time. families can navigate to the district web page and begin the process. And then in addition to the online registration process, we would ask that families have their child's birth certificate, immunization records, and two forms of address verification to complete that registration
009process. And that paperwork can be uh delivered to their home attendance centers on March 12th or just prior to school starting. So again, that March 12th opportunity is an a chance for us to welcome our new players to the team and get them ready for um the Sou Falls School District. >> So quick question for you, one of clarification. >> Um if they have a pre kindergartener, can they also attend March 12th but go to either JFK, Robert Frost, or Terry Redland, or will they have their own um kickoff? Yeah. So, the the kindergarten and junior kindergarten event is for kids who will be five by September 1st of 2026. >> Excellent. >> And so, they can go to their home attendance center. We always just say if parents are kind of in that lurch
010of are they ready for kindergarten? Are they not ready for kindergarten? Go to your home attendance center, explore that option, and then know that we have that junior K program at three sites. >> Good. Thank you. >> Yep. Any other questions? >> Fantastic. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Can I get an approval of the minutes of the meeting held on 126, 2026? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. I >> Thank you, Elizabeth. That is passed. Uh we do not have persons addressing the board. So we will move on to agenda item number seven. Approval of the agenda for tonight's meeting. Can I get a motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> We have an agenda approved. Seeing no conflicts
011of interest, we will move on to approval of the consent agenda. That is items A through G. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda items A through G? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. That is approved. Dr. Nol, we are quickly down to item 10, reports of the superintendent. >> Well, this first report that we have is is kind of a culmination or especially at least adding on to the information that we've provided earlier. So before you've heard a little bit about early childhood with especially specifically for special education and our birth to three programming uh to help uh put that into perspective. We also showed some of the things that a good news or a good news report with the assistant tech. So to see
012the overall picture that's presented with that and how many students we truly impact with our special services um programming. uh Miss Kennedy is going to give you uh uh some information tonight that'll really highlight the numbers and look at the overall scope of that so you can kind of see and put that into perspective. So her report will really give you that information behind the numbers in the SPAL school district. So Miss Kennedy, >> thank you for that Dr. N. Good evening everyone. Thanks for having me here today to provide the special education board report for you. I'm going to start out with some demographics, followed by a little bit of information on our programming, and then I want to finish up with some exciting things we have in the near future. And then finally,
013I want to wrap up with some goals and outcomes that we want for all of our students. What you see on your screen in front of you right now is the last five years worth of the December one child count. Remember, it's our December one child count that drives our special education need. This drives our special education state aid. So these numbers are very important. You can see here uh 2025 we had an all-time high of 4,437 students. That is 204 students more than what we had a year ago. I also want to highlight that this number is for students ages 3 through 21. This does not include the 117 kids that we serve birth to three. The state collects those numbers in a different fashion. When I talk about our child count and I
014talk about the numbers going up, I always get the same same question. Which areas are you seeing the biggest growth in? And you can see on your screen on the left side of there, we have four disabilities that we are seeing growth. One is speech language disorders. The next is autism followed by developmental delay and multiple disabilities. And then in the parentheses next to that, that's how many students we increased by. Note that we have one category that we saw a decrease in. Our largest decrease was emotional disabilities. The other question I get is what is the most common disabilities that you serve in the Sou Falls School District? There are three I want to highlight. One is specific learning disabilities. That is our largest population. We have over a thousand students with a specific
015learning disability. It's not surprising that's a high number because a learning disability can cover anything from math, reading, writing, oral, listening. It covers just a broad area. Next is speech language disorders. That number has been on the rise for a while since COVID. So, it's not surprising that's second. And then finally, our third largest disability is autism spectrum disorder. And that has been on the rise for the last several years as well. When we take a look at the numbers for our December 1 count, I can tease these numbers and play with these numbers in a lot of different ways. And I want to kind of show you what I do when we talk about how do how do we plan for programming? How do we plan for budget? I have just one way to
016slice and dice our data here for you. What you're looking at in front of you here is your disabilities by grade level. Right off the bat, you're probably looking at third grade. Wow, Denise, why is third grade so high in in students with disabilities? That's not surprising either because one of our disabilities only goes from birth through age nine. That would be developmental delay. What grade are you in when you're 9 years old? Third grade. So many of our kids once they stop qualifying for developmental disabilities, they don't qualify for any other category area. And that's that's a good thing. That means we we caught them early, gave them some early services, got them caught up to speed with the rest of their peers. The other thing I want you to focus on is look
017how our numbers go down a little bit as we get closer to high school. We want to catch our kids up and get them as high functioning as possible when they get to high school because if they don't achieve every single one of those credits, they don't get a standard diploma. And it always seems to be algebra 1 is always the kicker for a lot of students. Doesn't matter if you have a disability. If you don't pass that class, you don't get a standard diploma in the state of South Dakota. Instead, we have a certificate of completion. It looks the same, but they're two different documents. Finally, I want to draw one more thing to your attention here. If you look at fifth grade and eighth grade, fifth grade, you'll see we have well over
018350 students in our fifth grade right now. Then you go to eighth grade, we have under 250 students. Think about your middle schools now. You have a lower number of kids leaving middle school and a higher number of kids coming into middle school. What does that mean? We have more kids coming into our middle school next year with disabilities. That means we need to be aware of that. We need to plan that. We need to prep for that. I bring that to your attention now because I know in about a month I'm going to be in front of you again talking about my budget. So, this is just a little teaser on on one of the things I might be speaking about in another month. But anyway, I can slice and dice this data any
019way any way we see fit. It just it gives you different information how you look at it. All right. How do students qualify for special education? We have 13 different categories that kids can qualify under. In order to qualify for special education or an IEP, an individual education program, we have to complete a comprehensive evaluation and that is done by a multid-disciplinary team. That means it's done by more than one person. So typically you'll have your school psych, your school psychologist, I'm sorry. You'll have your your case manager, your teacher. If there's speech concerns or fine motor concerns, you'll have those other specialists that play a part in that evaluation. Also, when we do the evaluation, we compare it to the criteria. The state of South Dakota sets that criteria. So we we do the
020eval, we compare it to their criteria, and it's pretty easy to determine if a student qualifies for a disability or not. In special education, we have several obligations that we are legally obligated to follow. One of our obligations is childfind. It is our obligation to seek out and find students in our community that have disabilities, locate them, evaluate them if they qualify. We provide services. Most of our child fight obligations, our child fights come through teacher referrals. That's probably the most common way we find students is teachers uh will refer them for an evaluation. But we also get referrals from physicians, daycare providers, and even parents. Now, just because you qualify for a disability doesn't mean a student is on that IEP for the entirety of their educational career. There are ways for those services
021to end. Students are considered for a re-evaluation every 3 years. That means every three years there's a potential that they will no longer qualify. Parents can also revoke consent. We don't advise it, but it's a right that they have. When students graduate with a standard diploma, they also are no longer eligible for special services through the Sou Falls School District. Or they might not get that standard diploma, but they might leave us with a certificate of completion, meaning they met all of the goals on their IEP and we've done everything we can do for them and they're ready for the next phase of their life. Or students can age out. We are obligated to serve kids through the age of 21. We have a full continuum of services. Our birth to three services are held
022in the students home environment or most comfortable environment. And then you'll see that we have programs all throughout the district here. Now, we do have resource rooms in every home attendance center, but we do have 30 program locations across the Sou Falls district. For early childhood, we have blended programs and specialized programs in nine of our elementary buildings. Then there's our RISE programs. RISE stands for reaching independence through structured environment. That is a preK through 12th grade program for students who have a lot of cognitive needs, adaptive needs, social skills needs. Um sometimes the students with autism or cognitive delay that are in those programs, but you don't need a certain category to be served in that program. It goes off of their needs. That's a common program. Those are in 17 of our buildings.
023We have two buildings that house our behavior programs and our 18 to21 transition program known as community campus is in two different buildings and that's where I'm going to take you next to our future. Our community campus is growing just like everything else and we are projecting 115 students in our 18 to 21 transition program next year. That is an all-time high. So right now Jeff Krider and his team are working on revamping the second floor of the learning lab. We will have over 15,000 square feet for our students to come together, staff to come together and work on those transition goals. With this additional space, we are really looking at our intentionality and our transition programming. What we're finding is the the programs for adult services, they're going through the same things we are.
024They're going through staffing issues, financial issues. We are finding that it is getting more and more difficult for our kids to qualify for adult services which means we need to be aware of that because we have some high expectations for our kids and we want them to leave us and have successful lives. So what that means is we have an end goal for our kids but they need to come into the community campus with a certain set of skills as well. What we're doing is revamping our RISE programs and we are vertically aligning and being very strategic with our prek through 12th grade rise programs. So they come into the transition program with a solid set of skills for adaptive communication. They can learn how to be independent. By then they learn some problem solving
025skills, kind of learn some grit and just being able to work through those tough times. If we can get them to that point at transition, then we know that by the time they leave transition, they are going to be well taken care of for the rest of their lives. There are four goals that we want for every student that leaves a Souf Falls school district out of the special services program. We want one of four for all kids. We either want them to leave us and go to post-secary education or post-secary training or we want them to leave us to be independently employed or we want them to qualify for supportive employment or qualify for adult services. And I'm super passionate about this end goal. Everything we do needs to end up with this right
026here because if students leave us just to go home and sit on the couch, we didn't do our job. We have to make sure our kids are taken care of by the time they leave us. So, this is our end vision. At this point, I get really passionate at this point, but this is where I'm going to come to an end and close it. And I will ask if you have any questions and if you don't, I'll ask for an approval. >> Stand by. Um, can I get a motion to approve the special services report? >> Second. >> Okay. Now, we're going to open up for discussion. I want to start where we left off with the goals and hear if you can a few of the stories about students moving into that independence because
027it's such a important role that we play for our community and that we're seeing the potential that these students have. um and getting to see the growth and that serves well to the excitement and the passion that you have. Absolutely. Two weeks ago, you had our assisted technology team in front of you and they work hand inand with everything I'm speaking about tonight. When I talk about the intentionality of all of our programs, we don't want our programs to work in isolation or in silos. They're all connected. They all build upon each other. So, in elementary, we want our kids to learn foundational skills. foundational skills, how to behave in school, how to make friends, how to socialize. When they get to middle school, then we're working on their independence. How do I get from
028class to class and how do I work on this without an adult, you know, being by me the entire time? When I get to high school, we're purposely going to make things a little bit challenging to teach them how to work through those problems. That communication piece is a big part of it, too. when you talk about independence, we have a lot of students who can work and and work in in employment in the Sou Falls School District, but I'm sorry, in the Sou Falls community, but for example, if they can't read, if they're reading on a second grade level, but they go to work and they have to read their directions, that assisted technology you saw two weeks ago, they can take their device and have it accessible that way. Now, they can do
029the job completely on their own. When we get them to the transition program, we want them to be able to walk into their environment, be able to pull up what their responsibility is, stay in their work environment, be able to ask for help, be able to wait for help, be able to accept the word no or accept rejection, and be able to problem solve a little bit. The thing with special education kids is sometimes we help so much that we're right there every second of the day. As adults, to be successful, we have to be able to work through the tough times and we have to learn to be patient. And that goes for our kids with disabilities, too. It's all a part of making sure that we are expecting a lot out of them
030as well. We want high expectations for all kids. >> Excellent, Gail. >> So, kind of continuing with the four goals that you have for kids, um, when you move into your new space at Southeast Tech for the community campus, will you be able to expand the programming and how you serve those kids and have them reach those four goals? Oh, you are speaking my language. Um, in the near future, I really invite you and encourage you to have Dr. Nikki Whiting come and do a board report on what we're doing at the community campus, too. We do have some wildly exciting things coming uh this this direction, too. Uh, part of it. Yeah, we we do. We got some new curriculum. We've got some there is some dedicated space in that building that has a
031a definite intention to it. >> I'm looking at Dr. because I don't know if I can say a whole lot about it yet. >> We can't yet, but we do have some very >> we will have with some partnerships and that's one of the goals that we've had is to continue to create and foster partnerships with our community and surrounding communities. And so I have some great information. It just isn't ready yet, but we'll present that information at an upcoming work session. It'll be great news. >> I really wanted to share it today. He knows this. Don, >> thank you. eagerly await that report. >> And I'm sorry to answer your first question, that space should be done by mid July. And yes, we will be doing tours. We look to do some exciting things
032for that opening. So, absolutely, we want to invite you out for a tour and show you all the great things that are going to be occurring there. So, we'll keep you updated. Okay. >> Excellent. >> Well, when we say public schools serve all kids, that's exactly what we mean. we're meeting them where they're at and getting to see the growth and their independence or that they transition into more of a lifelong uh program. Uh whatever the case may be, we meet them where they're at. And thank you for your leadership and coming up with a plan to in carrying that out. Um we appreciate it. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> We have approved your report. Thank you. Thank you for your time. The second report we have this evening uh is is a
033sort of a good news report as well. Uh this report is going through a lot of the benefits that we have for the staff of the Sou Falls School District. And as we get into this time of of hiring where we begin that process, it's a great time to be able to just emphasize and show the things that we're able to provide our staff as part of the benefits package with the Sou Falls School District and where that ranks statewide as far as our overall compensation. So, Miss Dorman will give that information. >> Thank you, Dr. Null. An attractive and competitive employee benefit package is a critical component of the district's ability to recruit and retain highquality staff in an increasingly competitive labor market. While salary is an important factor, benefits play a significant role
034in employees overall compensation and long-term commitment to an organization. So where where we'll be going this evening as we are going to discuss the district's benefits as a core component of total compensation and staff retention. We're going to discuss the offerings of the district including medical wellness, income income protection, retirement benefits and leave benefits. Um you'll see where we as a district have made a significant investment um that emphasizes affordability for staff access and again that long-term sustainability and then programs that support well-being, workforce stability and also emphasize our staff excellence priorities. This slide here um is data taken from the South Dakota Department of Education. In terms of teacher compensation, including now both salaries and benefits, the district remains highly competitive in South Dakota. Among the 148 districts statewide, Souf Falls ranks third with
035an average total teacher compensation of $84,352, underscoring the district's strong investment in both direct wages and comprehensive benefits as part of its overall compensation strategy. Now, if we were to look specifically at um our first year teachers coming into the district, um their total compensation, including um benefits and their salary, would be about 71,000. Now taking a look at the national level. Um I have a slide here with NEA salary data that they've published and then making some public sector um averages and assumptions to come to this data. Um there is no single data set that ranks total teacher compensation um salary plus benefits by state at the national level. Um so we are going to use the NEA data that they've published um and then some costbenefit assumptions. Understanding how the district teacher compensation
036compares to state and national benchmarks is important as we continue to focus on our workforce. South Dakota remains a lower paying state for educators. We rank between 45th and 50th in total compensation, which creates challenges for South Dakota to compete nationally for teacher talent. But as we look at this slide, we notice that the district performs well. Our average teacher salary of $62,632 exceeds the state average and when combined with our benefit investment um brings total teacher compensation to $84,352. Benefits represent approximately 34.7% of this total compensation and reflects the district's commitment to employee health and long-term stability. While looking at the chart, you'll notice we are still below the national average, but our total compensation significantly closes that gap. It places us ahead of nearly every district in South Dakota and allows us to
037compete with many districts across the country. Nationally, our teacher compensation is estimated to rank between 30th and 40th. Now, we're going to dive in a little bit to into the benefits that make up our total teacher compensation, but we're going to start with our district insurance committee, um, which is responsible for guiding decisions related to our employee benefits, um, including medical, dental, life, and disability, supplementary, or any other ancillary benefits. This committee is important because because it is made up of representatives from all eight bargaining groups. Representation from the school board, the business manager and human resources also present on this committee. Um, this committee works very closely with Brown and Brown, the district's bene benefit advisor to support informed decision-making and the long-term sustainability of our benefits program. Our district insurance committee has several
038guiding principles as we analyze benefits for our staff. Um, we're looking at broad provider access and network coverage, flexibility for the diverse needs of our employees. We emphasize prevention, wellness, and income protection benefits. We look to be fiscally responsible so that we can be um sustainably sustainable long term. And then of course we want top quality customer care for staff. Our employees um who work 20 hours a week or or more are eligible for our benefits. Um, this would not include any temporary substitute or contracted staff. Overall, between the K12 district and Southeast Technical College, we have 3,700 employees who are eligible for benefits. We also cover spouses and children up to age 26 in our insurance programs. Um there are some uh general um extensions for unmarried children um who are still in college.
039They can stay on till they're 30 or unmarried disabled children have a longer uh term on our insurance as well. All new and new new hires must enroll within 31 days and then their elections are locked in for the year. We also offer uh COBRA coverage um for uh qualifying events. Now looking at our core health benefits which of course medical comes to mind. Um med our medical plan is administered by Wellmark. Um they do the uh they are the provider network. They process our claims and provide customer service. Our plan structure is a PO or a preferred provider organization which gives our employees flexibility um to see a wide range of doctors and specialists with the lowest out-ofpocket costs when care is received from the providers within that network. Also, our medical plan is
040self-funded. Uh this means the district pays the actual costs of the health claims rather than purchasing a fully insured plan. Wellmark serves as the claims administrator, but the district is financially responsible for the claims. This approach allows the district to maintain greater control over plan design, tailor benefits to meet employee needs, and to main cost maintain costs more effectively over time. Our medical plan including employees and all the dependents covers um over 7,700 lives. We have tiered coverage of single employee plus one in family. Uh we have a $500 deductible and then a $1,000 deductible for family, meaning two people in a family could meet a deductible and the family's deductible would be met. And then our out-of-pocket maximum is 6,000 for single and 12,000 for family. Now, we pulled some information from an annual
041survey that the HR department completes along with other districts from South Dakota. It's a survey from the school administrators of South Dakota. Um this chart compares premium costs for the various coverage tiers and corresponding deductibles from area districts plus Rapid City. Um you can see by looking at the the data on this page that our district's health plan uh fares well next to our neighbors. This is another important slide to show to discuss u medical cost sharing. Um the district covers approximately 72% of all of the medical costs while the employees cover 28%. Now, the employees 28% is made up of their out-of-pocket costs like deductibles, co-ayments, co- insurance, and as well as the premiums they pay through um their payroll deductions. For comparison, we take a look at the 2025 Milman Medical Index report
042and we notice that the average is 58% of employers employee coverage versus our 72% where and that leaves employees to pick up the remaining 42%. Um the district's cost sharing approach reflects that we have um a high investment in our employees health benefits helping to maintain affordability for staff while supporting the long-term sustainability of the plan. The district offers vision insurance and if you happen to be a member of the medical plan, your vision insurance is included with your medical benefits. Um the highlights of that plan include a $10 office co-pay for your um office visits and then you get reduced cost or free um lenses, frames, and contacts. If you're not a member of the medical plan, but an employee would want coverage for themselves or their family, they a they are able to
043purchase it through payroll deduction. Our core health benefits also include um Delta Dental. We have a couple of options. We have a standard plan and an enhanced plan uh to give employees the flexibility to choose the best fit for their dental needs and their household budget. And I spoke earlier that um wellness and prevention was one of the key fundamentals that our uh district insurance committee focuses upon. And we've had a wellness program for several years. I think we're beyond 15 years of having a wellness program. But we are in our second year of working with Navigate Well-being Solutions. It's voluntary and it's confidential. But if employees on the plan and their spouses uh participate, they can receive a premium reduction of $45 each for each person. So that could be $90 a month. Um
044our participation is between 65 and 70% typically, which is above average when you look at other incentivized wellness programs. And to successfully complete the program, employees need to see their doctor annually. they need to complete um a wellness survey and then engage in some wellness programming. We have another option and it's called included health that helps support um wellness and health programming for staff and it brings us the doctor's ondemand program which is virtual medical and behav behavior health care. These um virtual office visits are at no cost to the employee. Another nocost option for employees would be um the ability to get a second opinion on uh maybe a medical diagnosis or a medical situation. And then they also have free access to care navigation. Whether someone has received a difficult diagnosis or uh
045you're not exactly sure what other treatment options might be available to you. Um Included Health can help support you with that. Now we're moving on to our income protection benefits. So life insurance falls under this umbrella. Um we have a life insurance plan through Lincoln Financial. The district offers many term options for employees that fits their budgets and coverage needs. We also offer life insurance for spouses and dependents. Lincoln Financial Group also administers our long-term disability program which once someone is disabled for 180 days, they can res uh replace 60% of their income while they are still disabled at a very affordable cost. Additional income protection benefits include shortterm disability and employees, especially um newer employees, may wish to purchase short-term disability to help get them to the 180 days where long-term disability would kick
046in. um employees can coordinate their short-term disability with their existing sick leave benefit to help stretch their income as far as possible while they're going through um a personal health crisis. The district also operates a sick leave assistance program which provides up to 30 additional paid days of sick leave after a waiting period is met for long-term personal illnesses. We offer MetLife coverage for accident cancer and hospitalizations and then um farmers home and auto coverage options for those that wish to look into them. The district offers a flexible spending program through wage works that allows employees to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible health care and dependent expenses to reduce their overall out-ofpocket costs for these qualifying expenses. Um, South Dakota retirement system is a divine defined benefit plan administered under state state
047law where the employee contributes 6% and the district matches that 6% sharing the employees retirement investment. We also have additional savings options through our 403b plan um where employees can elect to have additional funds that come from their paychecks and sent to their 403b provider to allow additional tax savings at retirement. And then all of our collective bargaining agreements have some version of a district retirement incentive um that will pay some sick leave out at retirement based on their eligibility. But then it also allows them to continue on the district's health insurance once they reach age 55 and have been employed for either eight or 10 years with the district. So they can uh know that as a retiree, if you retire early, you do have an option for medical coverage through the district. Of
048course, we offer paid time off just depending on the collective bargaining agreement for what you work under so the district can support work life balance and employee well-being. We're excited about some new things coming our way. Um the human resources department and the payroll department are working together to implement a new more robust online benefit benefits management system which will will be uh improving our uh accuracy, efficiency and the employee experience. And then Brown and Brown at no additional cost to us is bringing us a mobile benefits app which will be great for the spouses or maybe the college kids on the plan that need to have quick access to the plan. Um and they can do that now through an app. will be able to send textbased communications about um benefits which is great
049because um employees if if they have a a language if English is not their first language that makes it a lot easier them for them to switch it to their first language. Um, we'll be creating a centralized mental health resour and a central high, excuse me, a centralized mental health resource guide um, just to help support families um, with their mental health. In the end, we've covered the impact of a strong benefits package. Um, what a strong benefits package has on total staff compens compensation. We've seen some teacher compensation data. Um, we know that a strong benefit program supports recruitment and retention. It promotes employee health and engagement. Um, it reduces turnover, protects instructional continuity, and supports student outcomes. Um, our support of our benefit program also aligns uh with our district staff excellence priority.
050At this time, um, I ask the board to acknowledge the employee benefits report and then I welcome any questions. >> Can I get a motion to acknowledge the human resource benefits report? So move. Second >> discussion. >> Becky, there is absolutely no question that we take care of our people. You're that what you have control over in terms of the benefit. You all are putting our people first. So that's the good news. The the news that we want to know more about is because you get to sit in the seat of hearing the and doing the exit reports as well as negotiating salaries. Um we know from this report that we also have um below the national average in our our salary. What would be a magic number if you could wave the magic wand
051that would put you in a position so that we can be more competitive? How would that swing or look for beginning and average? Well, looking at the national total compensation comparison, I believe that might be like slide number five. You know, we're we're certainly not that far off, Nan. Um, if you look at total compensation, the the average across the state is 962. We're at 843. Um, I I think we've done what we can with employee benefits and salary is the next part. Now, how how much I I don't know how much salary is possible. We need more salary to bring that up. >> Yeah. Noted. Okay. Definitely. So, I appreciate that and I know it puts you in a tricky position, but I think it's okay to address that we have a competitive labor
052market, >> right? And uh we also know that we want to be able to compete because staff excellence has a direct impact on the outcomes um in terms of student achievement. Um and so we want to continue to do our part uh to partner with you all um to be able to continue to give you that advantage to be competitive. So thank you. To me, it's amazing. Uh I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't think about retirement till I retired. So, uh I mean, I did some things, but South Dakota retirement system in the SLA school district. It's good stuff. Um, I don't know how we can motivate people to whatever. You know, when you when someone you hire somebody in the town dollars, that's about it. But when they figure
053out everything that's involved, I think our insurance program's got to be one of the top one people. I I don't I don't know that, but I know it's good because I retired and went on another system and I pay a lot more for prescriptions >> and I think I had a better deal when I was working here. >> So, I'm proud of that. Thank you. >> I guess I'll just piggy back off of that. Being a former employee, I don't feel like I took advantage of all the opportunities that you had and you would see them pop up and you're like, I'll get to it later and then you didn't and then you to like totally regret it later. I did do the health and wellness one when I was here and it helped cover
054um I think my Planet Fitness or something because I did that program which was really nice because you know cover I think it was 35. So to see it go up to 45 to be reimbursed, that's, you know, any penny pinching that people are doing, that's awesome to have that opportunity. And then the retirement, like Mark said, like I've never found another opportunity out in the work field since being in the district or a part of any school district that does this for people. So, it is and even though it doesn't look like it on your paycheck, like that's something that I probably took for granted working in the district and now not um you realize what an advantage that is and how you're going to be able to take care of yourself later down
055the line. So, um yeah, just again if you if you're listening, uh get into those benefits and truly understand them and support yourself. And then just speaking to the mental health and wellness, all the opportunities you have. We talk about burnout and how teachers are struggling. Just reach out and get those opportunities in front of you and take advantage of those things. So, they're out there. Sometimes we just have to ask the question. So, thank you for having those available for everyone. You're welcome. And thank you to those that serve on the insurance committee and give the feedback um because it's noted and and acted upon. >> Dr. N, I saw you >> or Gail, I'm sorry. >> I just want to say that our staff, our staff is the most important resource we have
056and the best asset we have in this district. And I love how we take care of them. And that's such an important part of being an employee in this district is how you take care of your people because our people are what take care of our students. And that's what we're all about here in the schools. And so I want to thank you for continuing to look for ways to take care of our people. And you're a master at it. So thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And I think our people means every person. It's not just teachers. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm hopeful that we're do we're doing something there and I think we are. Right. >> When we're looking at giving benefits at 21 plus hours, that that was a goal
057that we had several years ago and we made that happen. >> That's exactly what I wanted to close on is we take care of the staff that we have here and and value the work that they do and the benefits package is an incredible piece of that. So when Miss Dorman and I talked about it, it's do not hold anything back. Make sure you show that full amount of the benefits that we have for our our staff in the Sou Falls School District. And that's a great part of the salary and the overall compensation. So thank you very much. >> Any other discussion? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I oppose. We have acknowledged your report. Thank you, >> Mr. Be. We have our legislative report this evening. Well, um, as I get ready here,
058Shellyley is going to drive this because I didn't do a very good job last time, so I was told. So, she's going to keep Shelley updates this every day. What goes on in the committees and whatnot. So, she she knows this document very well. So, she's gonna This is what is on our this document here is on our website. There's a QR code for people following at home or wherever. they want to go in and click on that and because what's going to be on the board up there is going to be very hard to see. Um, soon as I get logged in here, I'll get going. This is just so I can keep track of what I'm doing, too. So, we uh we've gone through bills twice. once at the last regular meeting, once
059at the work session, we got down to everything but two um two constitutional amendments and then that last day I think uh close to 20 bills dropped in. So, we've got about 20 bills to go through. I'm going to start on the House bills and uh well, before I start, I'm going to start at 1281. That's where we left off. But before I start on that, I'm just going to give you an update on some bills up above that were that were that were key bills and just tell you where they're at. So, I'll start with House Bill 1051. That's a state aid 0% no property taxes bill. Um, we were opposed to that and that is still sitting in appropriations. House Bill 1082 we supported. It's uh free meals for reduced students, reduced price
060students who currently would pay 40 cents for lunch and 30 for uh breakfast. That is in state that is in appropriations as well. House bill 1205 was greater of 3% inflation instead of the lesser of 3% inflation for state aid. it uh barely got out of uh house ed and it was sent to appropriations. So that's where honestly appropriations is where a lot of bills go to die. But uh but that's where that bill is at. And then uh House Bill 1281 is where we're going to kind of start. We're going to do it if that's okay like we did it last time which is I'll uh give you the bill number kind of what it does hopefully fast um what our position is and then unless the key the bill is a key position
061I'm not going to kind of go through what that position is you can go out there and read it. If you have questions on any of them just stop me and I'm going to skip over dead bills at least that I know of as of coming in here tonight. So, House Bill 1281 reduces the sales and use tax on food to increase uh rates for certain taxes, use taxes and excise taxes to provide a new fund for loans for sparse districts. Really doesn't affect us. We we say we recommend no position on that bill. House Bill 1282 has died already. House Bill 1285 amends pres provisions pertaining to the timing of municipal and school district elections. I think this bill might be well intended. It's just written really poorly. Um I'll give you an example.
062There's a line in here that says uh 13710 uh will read as follows. Each school district must hold a regular election each oddnumbered year. Now, I don't think it means to say that because we just got rid of our oddnumbered elections recently and I think other I've heard from others who want to do that as well. It's just it's just weirdly written. So, we have as amend I but I really don't know exactly what the bill is trying to do because of all the kind of strange syntax. But amend is what we have that bill right now. House Bill 1306 authorizes the provision of charitable contributions to a scholarship granting organization for use by parents of homeschool students. We have that as opposed. House Bill 1307 limits the annual increase and assessed valuation of each
063owner occupied single family dwelling to 3% per year unless the dwelling had an addition. We have on that an amend which is uh without an adjustment greater than 3% when the house is sold the bill will uh will chill new house construction because I mean if if it never if they never go up and then you're going to build a new house 20 years from now all these houses will be will have be low and nobody wants to buy a new house because they're the house is going to cost a hundred thou for the same house $100,000 or $200,000. more. And so anyway, most of these things that do this, they when when somebody buys a house, it resets the the deal. So that's what we would suggest on that. House Bill 308 reduces certain
064property taxes for owner occupied property uh and uh use increases the gross receipts tax that there's several bills like this. We oppose. We support the governor's bill. We already said that last time. his his plan for property tax relief. House Bill 1309 restricts the processing of online personal data of individuals 16 years of age or younger. We're neutral on that. House Bill 1312 limits annual valuation increases on another one of those bills. Again, we support the governor's bill. We're opposed to that. And House Bill 1313 requires education and prenatal human growth and development. We oppose that bill. House Bill 13. So those are the House bills. We'll move on without any questions. We'll move on to Senate. Now, on the Senate side, I think I I do have some I'm going to start uh after
065Senate Bill 216 with the the two Senate joint resolutions. So, that'll be down there around 216. Um a couple a few bills before that, uh SB58 had the zero mil levies and that that is that is dead. Um SB85 all school optouts must have an election that died last week. However, it's uh step it's evil step brother has emerged in the Senate. Uh so we'll talk about that bill in a little bit. Uh SB96 is the governor's tax reduction plan. it's sitting in taxation and SB 157 was the two-year enrollment averaging option for districts that died already. And uh we will go down then now to Senate Bill 216. And then look at those joint resolutions if I can find it my sheet. Okay. So we had two joint resolutions we didn't get to on
066Wednesday. One proposes a constitutional amendment uh essentially limit property taxes to at most 1%. That's 10 mills. Most most houses right now in the state are over 10 mills. Probably all commercial property is. We oppose that. Um uh Senate or SJR507 would submit to the voters uh not a constitutional amendment, but a law which would reduce certain property taxes for owner occupied property and increase the rates for certain grocerers. It's kind of the same deal. They're just trying to do it with a have a a referral to to the electorate to the new we we uh we oppose that just like all the other bills because we're supporting the governor's plan. Senate Bill 218 provides for the establishment of charter schools. We oppose that and that is a key bill. Um the blanket exemption from
067state rules would lead to a lack of accountability. There's some other thoughts there as well. Senate Bill 220 authorizes a comprehensive study of juvenile correctional and residential facilities. We are neutral on that. Senate bill 223 modifies the requirements for a petition to refer an excess tax levy of a school district. Um we are opposed. It's a key bill. That bill was amended in committee today from 50 signatures to 5% of the voters in the previous board election. The now we had 3 thou we had about just under 3,000 votes in our last election. So that would be around 150 signatures that was needed versus 5,500 last year. Um so we oppose that bill. It looks like uh you know we're taking a second bite at the apple after Senate Bill 85 was killed. Um, it's
068basically a one-sizefits-all. It isn't quite anymore, but it doesn't really doesn't expand that because uh they know that uh turnouts in schoolboard elections are fairly low. And even uh you know, we will be joining with the primary election this year. Well, the last primary election was about 10% turnout in in Minhaha County. So, it's still not an overwhelming turnout. So, it isn't like people don't vote in the board meetings, but they vote for the legislature because I mean, it's still pretty low turnouts for both. Just uh one thing kind of I missed the commentary today, but I've listened to a lot of it on this and I know some of you were there, so you you got to hear it. But one thing that that keeps getting said is why shouldn't the people have a
069say when they they being school districts and it's nobody else either. It's just school districts, not counties, cities, water districts, ambulance district, anything else, nobody else. These rules just apply to us. But why why shouldn't the people have a say if they are going to go over the allowed amount? And they as the school districts and the allowed amount is the amount set by the legislature. Well, I brought this up Wednesday, but I refined it a little bit to give the state a break and take a break away from us. what they what we have been allowed to go up since 2008 including the our opt outs which are last year or in 2024 which is the year I have data for both for our opt out was 11 million so our increase per student
070over that period of time was 53.5%. Now I don't know if that seems like a lot it's 16 years it's you know simple simple interest it's a little over three but compound interest is probably about 3%. But over that exact same period of time, if you look at the state sales tax and you take out the property tax relief they did in 2017, um their increase is 91.2%. And they don't opt out ever. They have a sales tax that just rides. It goes up. Sometimes it's low, sometimes it even goes down a little bit, but it averages about four and a half% a year. And they just ride that. And uh if a school feels like it needs more than 3%, it's they have have violated what what the amount they're supposed to have and
071everybody should vote on it. And nobody votes on theirs except them. Um 105 of them and it's dominated. It's it's it's basically a one party operation out there and it's dominated and uh nobody ever calls that. In 2016 when they raised the sales tax half a percent so it would have been referable because that's a law that got passed they put they put an emergency clause on it. So it's not so you know what's good for the is not necessarily good for me is is what you hear a lot out from and I it's kind of getting old hearing the same old refrain year in and year out and so much this year. Um, so anyway, we'll move on to Senate Bill 225, aortions interest earnings from the unclaimed property fund disclosure. I have support
072on that, but anytime there's a fund for schools, it just gets rolled into the state aid and then they'll give you what you're going to get for state aid. So, it's really not going to probably be extra money. Senate Bill 229 requires an election to improve the issuance of capital outlay certificates unless the total project amount is under 50 not million,000 $50,000. This came out of a complaint in one of the opt out deals where a school up north had had a a failure of a of a bond election and then uh did capital certificates. And if you do them to an extent under one and a half% of your valuation, that isn't it isn't referable. But if if it's over that then it is and then you vote on it. And they did they
073split theirs up into three to keep it under the one and a half. So they that committee heard that and one of the members put this in here. 50,000 is a ridiculously low amount to to have to have on here. So we have that as a as a oppose and uh key bill on that as well. Senate Bill 242 makes an appropriation of two and a half million uh to provide grants to Spart Sparstics. We we put a pose on that because we're all struggling. We got 1.75% under we were supposed to have get last year and this year we're zero funded right now anyway. So if if there's two and a half million to dole out, let's split it over everybody, not just the spar school, which that would be a ton of money
074for the spart school districts because they don't have that many students. Um 243 imposes a transaction tax and dedicates revenues collected to to supplant certain property taxes. Again, we oppose. We support the governor's plan. 167 amends provisions pertaining to the administration of an academic achievement assessment to students and grade. This isn't on your list. I just uh found out we missed I missed it. I missed it earlier. Put it on there. We have that as a support. I'll read what our position statement is because you don't have it in front of you. Some of you might, but it's not it's not online for the home users right now. M 12 grade 11 assessment students are assessment supports diverse college and career pathways while maintaining statewide consistency. Students with the support of their guidance counselor or
075administrator select the assessment that best fits the students goals. 11th grade students who are partially enrolled in the district, at least 50%, must take one of the DOE approved assessments. And that is it. Stand by for any questions. Otherwise, I'd prefer it if you would approve the the positions as presented. Thanks. >> Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the positions presented? >> Second. Questions, discussion? Todd, I'd like to go back for a second on Senate Bill 223 when you were referring to kind of they I just want to add some clarity around that um in that it seemed as if the proponents for the bill felt that local um taxpayers, they would like to see them have more input into the school district's budget. And one thing um when we were there, we
076reminded um people that we have a robust budget process with many touch points for public input. Um and we're just not over the course of the last eight years, I've not gotten a whole lot of um feedback. Um it so what that tells us is that the budget that we establish yearly um seems to be one that the majority of people are supportive of because we're just not getting any feedback. So, um, as locally elected officials, that's one of our primary roles is to listen to our constituents, and we're not getting feedback that we're setting a budget that is um not favorable to the majority of of people. Um, but the feedback that we are that we do get is that the state is not able to keep up with the the inflation, which really
077puts the responsibility back to us as a district. And that is why the opt out was created over 30 years ago. So we being the locally elected officials and our state legislature has a process that we've been utilizing for the past 30 years um that that thankfully helps us to meet that gap. Um so that would be the feedback that we are getting um to simplify it and uh it just seemed uh being there and listening to the proponents and the opponents that it's not clear what the goal is and the intent of the bill because it's certainly not solving for property tax issues. Um and it's definitely not addressing uh the education funding. Um um so we just weren't quite clear what the what the bill is trying to to um to solve for.
078The bill does not change the cost of educating a child. >> I don't want to get started. Well, I think we should and we need and and I have confidence that um the support those that support public education which we have 84 or 83% of Sou Falls 83 that differs from the whole state but 83% of the kids in Sou Falls are public educated and um I have confidence that we have great support for public education. by both the legislature um and our local citizenry. Um and if there's feedback that we need to hear, we'd want to hear that. That's part of our responsibility. >> The part that I think is optimistic is last year we removed, you know, a significant about $3 million worth of the ongoing budget. This year we'll remove another with
079obviously board approval, but we'll present that coming up once we go through the whole budget process. another one to two million dollars removed from the budget. And the the premise is that that the school is just picking what number they want and taking the money that they want and overspending. We continue to look at our budget and continue to look for areas that we can reduce costs and we've done that. uh we use the opt out because there's just times that we are not being funded by the state appropriately to be able to keep up while we continue to add the benefits and the salaries to make ourselves be uh competitive and to provide the services to our kids. And we'll continue to commit to our our community that we will look for areas that
080we can reduce costs uh so we can make sure that we take only what is needed. I think what's often missed is also what we have that we could take for opt out. We've not taken that. uh we take maybe a little over um somewhere about 70% of it. And so we leave multiple millions of dollars untouched and not taken and not charged uh that we leave there because we do not need them and we look for efficiencies to be able to take first and foremost. And so our our budget process has been very solid and our our board members are elected officials from our community and we've heard over and over the great support from our community. And I would like to add a week ago we got feedback from the property tax committee
081and they the quote they find our budget to be lean. They don't know where they'd make cuts. So speaks to the job that you all are doing. >> I would just add Dr. um Dr. N's comments that we opt out for we h opt out for an amount bigger than we actually take based on the the advice of the finance action network which is several individuals in the city who are business folks and they're financially they're in the financial aspect there's they're either they're either CFOs or their business is is is dollars f you know auditing or what auditors and whatnot. So, they're very in tune to that. And their recommendation to this board was that you should have a little bit of a cushion in there. So, if you get another year where we
082get an 8.6% cut, you don't have to just destroy your budget o overnight. And that so that is why if you're listening at home and you're wondering, well, why do you opt out for an amount that not take it all? It's there for an emergency. And as Dr. Nol said, we don't take it just because it's there. And you think of anybody who would understand reserve funds, it would be our legislators. We'll probably end on that. >> Okay, sounds good. >> Just need a vote. >> Thank you. All in favor? I >> I >> oppose. That is passed. Thank you. >> Okay. We have a report for our review revised policies and regulation. Do you want to give us a little context surrounding that? >> Um yes. >> On to brighter topics like policies. Um
083tonight I have nine policies on behalf of the policy review committee. Uh this is part of our continual review of our policies and regulations. These are up for approval tonight on a review revise with minor revisions to the policies or their accompanying regulations. So I'll just go through the policies quick. Uh the first is our employee policy on nepotism. There's just a minor grammatical change in that one. Uh same thing with the next one. Uh that's the employee conflict of interest and that's just a fixed reference to a defined term. That was uh grammatical uh mistaken there. And then staff gifts and solicitations, no change to that policy. Our drug free workplace, there's just minor change to that one to account for digital recordkeeping. Um and then our drug alcohol testing for commercial drivers. Um
084just a minor change there to the time frame for the testing. um policy for alcohol-f free workplace. No changes to that one. Um searches of employee property and district-owned or provided property. Again, just a minor change there to account for digital recordkeeping. Um staff participation in community activities. We just have a minor change there to align that policy with our district uh priorities, our strategic priorities. Um, and then finally, our community resource people. There's just a small reference change to a a title of a employee position. And that's the extent of the changes. Um, if you have no questions, I'd ask for um adoption of the policies on our review revise. Thank you. I'll make that motion to approve the review and revise of our policies and regulations as presented. >> Discussion Gail or I
085know Elizabeth is is listening. Do you have uh any feedback? >> No, I think Mr. Erin's uh explained it well and uh we've seen these before and we haven't had any comments so I think it's good. Just giving Elizabeth a second. >> Okay, seeing no other comments. All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Those have been approved. Thank you, Gail. Before we adjourn, I just wanted to take a moment, if I could, to say that every month on our personnel report, we see a lot of great people who are heading towards retirement or leaving our district for a lot of different ways. And this month was so different, no different than the fact that we're losing a lot of great people. And the one that impacts those of us sitting here at this table the most
086is the gentleman sitting to my right. and it's going to mean a lot to us that he's leading our district, but I highly recommend retirement. So, congratulations, Mr. Beak. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Beak, would you like to say anything? just for super. >> Well, we had all echo Gail's sentiment and and feel the same and wasn't aware that that was public yet. So, I didn't I didn't say anything, but I believe that Gail got the the email and I didn't see it because I was driving. Thanks. So, thank you, Gail, for acknowledging Todd and we certainly have more to come in acknowledging his years of service and his expertise and the impact that has made um on the district. So, thank you, Mr. Meek. With that, we will uh can I get a motion
087to adjurnn? So, second. >> All in favor? I opposed. We're ajourned.