001We're going to call to order our meeting tonight. Let's please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the standice. [clears throat] >> Good evening. Um, we are having a good news report this evening and Deian isn't here, but we're glad you >> I am going to try to fill the role of Deian's shoes. So, Carly, you the communication strategist with the Souall Schools District. I'm excited to be here with you tonight to introduce the Good News Report guest. Uh, each year our schools embrace a variety of service learning projects to teach students how to recognize and respond to the needs of others. These projects bring students together for the greater good and help to establish a culture of community within the school. Now, one
002middle school is taking that service learning a step further and offering opportunities for staff to be the difference beyond the hallways and the classrooms. Sarah Muller is the dean of students at George McGovern Middle School and she is here with some other guests. So, I would invite them up to talk about how GMM serves and how staff are connecting to the community. come on up. >> Thank you. So, GM, GMMS serves, not the easiest thing to say, is um provides opportunities for our staff to give back to the community. It really started as a way that we were trying to do just that, service work. But what it's ended up doing is strengthening the culture of our building by fostering teamwork, empathy, and having a shared purpose both inside and outside of the walls of
003our school. Um, when we serve by side side by side, we not only make a positive impact in the community, but deepen our connection as a staff, reinforcing a caring and collaborative environment amongst each other. and we model to our students what it looks like to serve some of the projects we do they're directly impacted by. So that makes a huge difference for them as well. But I am going to let three of the staff members who regularly participate in these monthly service projects share more about their experiences. Some of the organizations with whom we've worked are the banquet west which a lot of our families attend. Um we've worked with Live Inspired 365. We've worked with the St. Francis House and this weekend we'll be heading to Ronald McDonald House to make breakfast for
004the guests there. But there's several organizations in the community. We've been doing this for almost a year and a half now, a monthly outing um with each other. But I'm going to hand it off to >> not Amy to [laughter] to Kim Dosset who is losing her voice, but she has a lot to say nonetheless. >> All the time. [laughter] Um it was kind of cool today. I [clears throat] know Amy and I start out with um these openers for our classes and today was civic >> I can't even think. Thank you. Civic pride day. So I actually spoke to all my classes today about um the things that they do that like promotes cohesiveness, community awareness um within like their neighborhood. We talked about their blocks, the city, the state and and we sat
005and talked about all the good things like in Sou Falls and everything. So then I told them about what the staff's doing and they were just like, "Really? Wow, how you really you guys do that? That's really cool." So it's not just us. Um I was telling um Miss Muller today, one of the things I really like about it is not only what we're doing for everybody else, but I can you can get to know like our um teachers, our co-teers, our staff so much better because you're seeing them in a laid-back environment. We're doing things for other people and it's just been I absolutely love it. I was so glad when we started it. about to push you up there. [laughter] >> Um, I'm Terry Richards and I'm also a teacher at George McGomery.
006Um, and I would ditto what Kim said. Um, it's been a great experience just for us as a staff. But I think my best memories are seeing families and students um and past students when we're doing these and they are just amazed that we're out there and have to do a double take many times and come up and hug us and um so it's just really great to connect in a place outside of the classroom. we get to see them, they get to see us, and um not just at my favorite store, which they always have to seem to see me at Target or Costco, you know, they're like, "Oh, okay." Um but so it is a great experience and I really I really love it and it really helps us with our staff because
007we really get to we support each other so much and it just brings us together. I'm Amy Heavey. As you can tell, if what I'm not teaching, I don't like to talk. Um, >> I would just add to what they've already said that when we do this and we're building our bonds as a community at school. We also bring in our own families to come and join us. I think the picture on the couch, I think my daughter is there, one of my daughters. And so we get to meet each other's families and even I don't know being a community at school just makes us stronger together to then be stronger for our kids and pass that on. You know that just that feeling and that that culture they can feel it. So yeah it's
008pretty amazing. I will say too, and I don't know if it's just all because of GMMS serves, but like [laughter] the whole last year and a half, just the positive um like environment, community cohesiveness of the staff that George McGovern has just been like it's turned around 180, I think. Not that it was really bad to begin with, but it's just been awesome. It's been very positive, very we're getting to know each other. Um, and there's a lot of other things we're doing within the school to do that, but this helps a lot. I think that's one more thing. Sorry. Coming in front. So, our theme this year is be the difference. And that's really we're encouraging people to be the difference in and outside of the classroom. And so, we made stickers this year
009for people who are making the difference to hand them out when we see them doing that. So, I just want to give you guys this on your way out and thank you so much. >> Thanks. Yeah. >> You're welcome. >> Yep. Thanks. >> Stay right here one second. I think you might have some questions. Yes, absolutely. One moment, Dr. N. >> Yeah, you don't have to leave. You can stay for the whole meeting if you'd like. Uh we have highlighted throughout the last several months just how our community pours into our schools and does so many things in our schools that is not part of our budget. It's just what our community does for the schools. And and we have incredible donors in our our community that that really help to take care of our
010kids. We don't always talk about the aspect of what our staff does in our community because they are a big part of that as well. And this is one of those examples that we have so many staff across our district that that pour back into the community as well. And and so it's reciprocal in in nature that way. So we just thank the staff there for highlighting those things. But uh we do absolutely go out and work with our community to make it a better place to live. So thank you for the work you do. >> I know that it's made a difference for your staff and I thank you for that. So tell me how it's it's rubbed off on the kids and how their attitudes and how it's impacted their lives. >> Yeah,
011that's a great question. Well, some of the organizations with whom we work directly do impact our kids. Like I mentioned, the Banquet West, every time we've gone to the Banquet West, we see families of ours and like Kim alluded to them seeing us in a whole different context um kind of brings full circle to them that we aren't just the face in school, like we're out there and we're doing things. And um and oftentimes, like Amy mentioned, we bring families and so then that makes it makes us more real for them. And we do some of these things within our walls, too. So, um, one of the images pictured up there are little care packages that live inspired hands out and we get kids involved with projects like that where they can write the notes
012that go in those. And so, they become part of that bigger picture, too, of helping the community. Even if they're benefiting from our work, they're also a piece of the work as well. >> Go ahead. >> I have something to say. [laughter] I think it helps show them that we care about them not just academically but as whole person >> and I I I just even from working at the banquet I have um sat like I sat down with the mom and she takes care of her grandson and I remember she was just in tears and he hadn't been in school for a couple days and she went on to tell us I was up till three four in the morning I didn't know where I mean so you're you're sitting and you're visiting with
013families on a more personal level and you and find out, you know, it's not just, oh, they're missing for two days. I'm now you know why. It's just things like that that really make it so much more um I don't know, easier to teach. >> Get to know kids and >> understand where they're coming from. >> Yeah. >> Understand >> they know that we care about their family, too. You know, we see the brothers and sisters and parents and it makes a difference to them. >> Helps us support them. So you're seeing that whole relationship piece come full circle. >> Absolutely. >> So thank you for what you're doing. >> Yeah. The social capital that you're building in that particular area of the city is um so important for disenfranchised communities. Um it really helps
014them to to know that schools and you know our teachers are a point place of you know safety um approachable um caring uh and it just it lends itself to really building strong communities. >> Thank you. >> Can I just add it's also opened some opportunities for us in the networking piece to find things resources for our families. Right. So even some of the places where we're not seeing students directly, we can now say, "Oh, we have a relationship with this or this this organization or this nonprofit that your family might benefit from. When we see a need, we can give them some more support." So yeah, it's great to connect them to the resources. >> Y Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Um let's see. Can I get approval of the minutes of the
015meeting held on and 11:05 2025? So moved. [clears throat] >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. >> That is approved. Um we do not have persons wishing to address the board on agenda or non-aggenda items. So we will move on to item number seven. Uh the approval of agenda. Uh, I would like to take this moment before we approve the agenda to please get a motion to table item number 10, the adoption and resolution of the sub lease agreement for Southeast Technical College. >> The approval of agenda with that >> with that first you have want a motion to approve the agenda. >> I move to >> table item number table number 10 in the approval of the agenda. >> Second. All in favor? I >> I opposed. We have approved the agenda adding
016the table of item number 10. So we will take that off. We will move on to any conflicts of interest. Seeing none, we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda items. That would be items 9A through F. Can I please get a motion to approve the consent agenda items? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Those are approved. We will move on to item number 11, reports of the superintendent. Dr. Null. >> Good evening and thank you. We do have two reports uh this evening as part of the superintendent reports. The first one will be given by Dr. Zeke and it is our Sup School District academic report. So, we'll go through that and there's a few things I'll add at the end. But Dr. Zeke, >>
017thank you. Good afternoon and almost evening board. Yes, I am uh here to present to you the uh academic report for the 2425 school year as a state report card was released on October 24th. We run the data. So now we're going to present that to you. In the first case, this is this is overly a positive report. We're seeing upward trends in many areas and you'll see that there are three boxes up top and the on-time graduation is our highest in nine years rising to 89 points uh 89 percentage points and that is three percentage points uh above the state level with ACT we're at a 22.5 and with our growth I'll explain that more in a little bit but we are up 3% in ELA and in math and we have some key
018insights ates where we're flat in ELA coming off math with plus 1% and science dipped down a bit, but we did see ex uh really good growth last year. We're just uh trending a little bit down there. College and career readiness, we're maintaining at 52% and 31% of our ELL students exited on track uh are on track to exit. And uh I'll talk more about our attendance in just a moment. So, first graduation rates being at that that 9-year trend, you can see that we're in green and the state is in blue. We had a similar trend postcoid, but we're really uh you know going in the right direction with what I said 80 89% or 88.65%. And so, what's the reason for that? Why is our attendance going up? Well, we have our online
019programming for high school students. Summer recovery really helps and early warning systems. We have our student support teams with our response to intervention or uh in our MTSS umbrella with our PBIS that's helping. We have teachers and counselors who are checking and connecting with students of our freshman academy to see that leap from 9th to 10th grade. and also our pathways at the Career and Technical Education Academy really support our students as they graduate. With ACT, we see our scores go from 22 to 22.5. And I'm here to tell you that I'll probably be back in uh 365 days. And it may be a little different. 50% of our graduates right now take the ACT. Next year it will be 100%. So that will be a dis a different metric than we've had in the
020past. Also to note, 68 students took the Stanford achievement test and that's really a test for students who are out of state. The ACT is our main test for kids who are going to college in the state. So that's why you see so many more students taking the ACT. Moving into our eight-year uh trends with achievements. And this uh this is on the South Dakota assessment. You can see ELA holding steady at 50%. Science dipped that one like I said and math rose up one. And you can see an upward trend again after COVID. Now, here's where things get really exciting. Uh this graph shows the three-year upward trend of our student growth. So what I mean by that is this is where students below proficiency are gaining and improving but they haven't yet achieved
021that proficiency line and that's important because our teachers put in a lot of hard work and you can see how that is just trending up and up for ELA and for math kind of at the same level. So this shows basically that our students are not standing still but they're catching up and we're hope and it takes a little while to see that in the proficiency line in the last graph that I showed you. Okay, if the last slide was really exciting, this is for me this is really really exciting. Uh the next three slides will show math, English language arts and science. And this just confirms our sustained engagement with our teachers and our students. This is the state assessment again but by grade level. You can see third, fourth, fifth, 6th, 7th, 8th
022and then the 11th graders take uh the assessment. So you can see in third grade yes that is a negative negative 4.5% uh as a comparison to all districts across the state. But as we grow in the grade levels about middle school then we start to rise above uh if we compare to the state and you know we just catch them up after years. We take all kids where they're at. Souf Falls is a fantastic community with a lot of resources. We believe people move here for those resources and some of them has significant needs. And uh you can see that our growth we go all the way to 7.2% 2% in mathematics. In English language arts, by the time they're juniors, we're at 5.7% above all districts in the state. And with science, we're
023at 11.1%. So, that's a testament to the hard work of our teachers and all of the resources and supports that help uh our kids become successful. college and career readiness. We're at 52% readiness uh for overall. So that would mean in assessment readiness and coursework readiness. 52% of our students meet both of those. And it's really maintaining and uh staying steady. We'll be working hard this year and into next year to develop capstone courses and to increase that along with the courses that we have at the career and technical education academy just to make sure that our co our kids get those credentials and then we'll see the uh the scores or this percentage of coursework ready and assessment ready move upward. Uh I just want to share just a little bit about coursework ready.
024[snorts] that is what students take the courses that they take. They might get credentials where assessment ready links back to the ACT or the state assessment or the NCRC and we won't give the NCRC uh anymore for next year uh because this year they'll take the ACT. E progress we are holding steady. We feel very uh very strongly that that is a good metric as uh people who speak English as a second language continue to grow and increase in our community. Holding steady is a good metric there to show the work that we're doing with our EL students. We have a co-planning co-eing pilot running at some buildings that's supporting our work in the classrooms. Student- centered coaching with our instructional coaches helps teachers help the give the teachers the skills and the strategies they
025need to help the students. And then again, our student solution teams uh identifying kids who may be falling behind or to really identify what they need to improve. Attendance has made a downward trend across the country and in our district, but since we've had the liaison, our attendance leaison in these past three years, we've seen that plateau and now begin to creep up again. So that is positive. And to note, 208 students, 208 students were the one day of making that number go up even higher. So we're just so close right on that line. In summary, uh, our strengths, record graduation rates outpacing the state at 89%. Our ACT scores are exceeding at 22.5. We have that exciting three-year upward growth trend in ELA and math. Priority focus areas. We're looking at continuing uh improving
026that attendance uh closing the achievement gap with the state averages uh on our South Dakota assessments and leveraging the attendance grant for sustained improvement. Other things that we're looking at in the we just received an ELA literacy grant and we have six coaches that will be supporting our teachers prek through high school. We're working on clarity for learning. We're uh helping teachers to identify students where they're at and having students take ownership of their learning. UFly and K2 will be uh up and running next year and that is a strong effort on helping kids read in their tier one classrooms. And then we are recently going to start uh soon a balanced assessment system team to take a hard look at our assessments. Are we assessing too much? Are we assessing too little? and how
027can we get those best pra practices into our classroom and then finally when our first year of the math study so of a two-year study and then we'll roll it out in the third year and ELA is right behind it for our next year that that curriculum study will begin. So with that uh I'm look to have the board acknowledge the Sou Falls School District 202425 academic report and I stand by for questions. Okay, just stay right there. Can I get a motion to acknowledge the academic report? Second. Okay, questions, feedback, thoughts. What is going on in 11th grade science? It's amazing. >> Yeah. >> Um, no, I really I really am am curious though. I mean, 7.2% 2% up in math from the state and 11.1 in science. Is there something I know you
028said that you know we kind of uh throughout the grades they they start coming up as um as they get through uh but is there something at the high school level in math and science that we're doing very differently than the rest of the state or that we're focusing on more or what do you attribute that to? Uh, good question, but a tough question because I don't know what the rest of the state is doing. I just know that really the hard work and the intensification of our professional development. I want to say that it's the amplified curriculum in the elementary, but we've only had that in place for two or three years. So, they're not up to the 11th grade yet. But, we've been seeing some really good increases and growth in student achievement
029in science in elementary. People love it. Kids are growing. So the wave is just going to continue. The trend would continue upward. >> Excellent. >> So you mentioned the assessment team who's taking a look at um are we testing too much? What tests are and I missed it. Are they starting this year or next year did you say and when can we expect some information from them? >> [snorts] >> Well, we began in October the state, we had worked with the state and had some consultants come in and they brought a team through a two-day summit, an assessment summit and uh we had positive experience from everyone where we really got to take a look and analyze all of the assessments K uh K12 and from that we got some recommendations from that team and
030then created another team with some of those in and then some other staff members and we begin in uh just before Thanksgiving, so November 20, meet monthly uh through the end of the school year. And I think there's so much work to be done here, it's probably going to trickle into next school year, but there would definitely be a report to the board of the efforts that we're making. And some of those quick decisions that we'll have to make that are sooner rather than later are uh are we assessing with certain assessments too much? Do we have redundancies? Can we get rid of those? And if we need to get rid of those, we need to get rid of them away. >> And then long-term, like how balanced are we from just coming in from
031an entry ticket into the classroom all the way to the state assessment and everything in between. What are those best practices? And then ultimately, we want to give the buildings a like a a rubric of the different components of what successful assessments would be. And then they can use it and guide, are we a one, are we a four? and everything in between and how can we develop some plans. >> I think you just said something that is music to a lot of uh people who teach and are in our classroom their ears. So going to hold you to that one. Thank you. >> Yeah, I'm glad you're looking at what the what is asking the question. What is the value of redundancy and is that pushing the needle towards improved graduation rates or um
032getting the the attendance or you know how is that impacting for example smarter balance is that impacting improving those test scores for example or ACT so it's great work that the that the team is doing and really important questions to be asking um what they what that ACT now that we're moving to 100% that is going to be paid for correct for every any student all students the ACT is paid for >> correct um and let's see what else the attendance liaison that grant has a timeline what is that >> that timeline is the end of this school year >> and we'll be looking for ways to continue as we're you know we're seeing positive growth in in uh in attendance across the board and and really when you visit with them the quantitative and
033the qualitative making a big difference in the the lives of kids and helping them to get more uh schooling days in. So the challenge is trying to find how will we sustain that. >> Yeah. >> So budget season's coming up. >> Makes sense. Noted. [laughter] Any other questions? >> An incredible point to to look at with the report, at least in my assessment of it, is where we take our kids when they come to us. Um, and that's what you do is you take any and all kids. Uh, we accept everyone and where they're at and the growth that we help them achieve through that time period is incredible. And as we've had legislative visitors come into our buildings, we continue to highlight that aspect that uh some of the the schools in our district
034probably have the greatest academic growth in the entire state, but that won't be recognized on a current assessment that we do. And so if we can change some of those assessment processes and and put in that appeal to the federal government and be able to change that, we can look at other methods to be able to see where growth occurs uh because it's not that hard to measure. And so we can look at those things and and really highlight then some of those schools that are showing such incredible achievement. And so that is a aspect that we continue to work on, but it also as we look at those schools, it highlights some of the great work they're doing. So that by the time those kids are getting to the middle school, high school, uh
035they're having great success. >> And we know that teachers are constantly doing absolutely observations and and testing the students growth. So, um, that's it's such value that they add in in doing that, um, con consistently throughout the school year. G, >> I'm glad you brought that up, Dr. Null, because when I was in the classroom, I always thought if I could only grade on growth instead of achievement, how awesome would that be? So, we are [clears throat] I do want to say that we are doing awesome work with student growth and such a strength of our district and I'm so proud of that. So, thank you all. Excellent. Um, all in favor? >> I opposed. Okay, we have acknowledge your report. Thank you, Dr. Z. >> The second report that we have this evening is
036or could have been a good news report and will be still a good news report even though it's not slated at the beginning of the the meeting. But the second report will be given by Miss Grer and it's our AP and dual credit report. Mr. Grer, >> thank you. Dr. Nold, you stole my first line. I was going to say this is really a good news report tonight. I have it written right here. Uh but it really is. Uh the Sou Falls School District has always had a strong AP program and it just this year is well, you'll find out it's it's amazing. Uh we offer over 30 AP courses for students to take. So just a wide variety of courses that course options that they have and our numbers are growing. In this past
037school year, we had 1,989 students take 3,577 exams. This accounts for 55% of all the exams taken in the state of South Dakota. And if you look at this chart, you can see that we have growth at every grade level. In 9th grade, 333 students. In 10th, 447, juniors, 625, and seniors took a big jump at 584 students. We encourage all students to take at least one AP course during their high school career. And a lot of our students opt to take more than one AP exam, at least two or more. And so chart B shows that we had a huge increase this last year. We went from 744 students to 925 who took two or more AP exams. So really challenged themselves academically. It's always a goal of our AP program to increase the
038number of exams um taken by minority students to increase that diversity. Uh you can see that we grew in most areas. I think it's interesting to note that in our no response in two or more races, those numbers went up and certainly those can impact um other areas. Our Pacific Islander stays pretty low, not a lot of students. We are in the middle of the country, so I think that makes sense. But our our Asian, black, Hispanic, and white numbers all rose, uh the one area that we we want to continue to look at as our American Indian students went down this year. And so that's something that we're taking a look at. Chart D shows the number of exams taken over the past four years and the number that scored three or higher. Three
039or higher is considered passing and at many institutions students receive credit uh for a test that scored a three or higher. Of the 3,577 exams, 2,855 received a passing score of three or above. And as you'll see in the next chart, this is the really exciting news. That is a pass rate of 80%. And if you look at our recent years, we've kind of been in that 70 to 74. So really took a big jump this last year and we continue to be well above the state at 74 and the global average at 69%. So I think that really speaks highly of our educators and our students. The college board also recognizes AP students for a variety of scholar awards. This year we had 690 students who were honored with AP scholar awards for a
040variety of ways. Uh 286 for the AP scholar, 131 for the scholar with honors, 262 for the AP scholar with distinction. We had nine earn the AP capstone and then one earn the seminar and research certificate. And then uh one that we haven't seen before, this year we had one earn the AP international diploma. Another fabulous way for students to earn college credit in the Sou Falls School District is through dual credit. Uh to enroll in dual credit courses, students have to meet eligibility criteria by either the South Dakota Board of Regents or the institution from which they are receiving credit. uh several college courses are now taught in person in the Sou Falls School District. And then in addition, we have many courses at the Career and Technical Education Academy or CTE where students
041can opt to uh earn dual credit. And then we have two great programs with community partners. The A Vera Academy and Sanford's Classroom Careers also allow students to earn dual credit through Southeast Tech. Uh this past year we had 548 students earn or take a dual credit course and again a huge jump in the number of credits that they earned. So that number rose to 3,21. Oops. Uh there is a budget for the AP program that's based on the number of exams that score three or higher. The funding with that budget pays for our AP teachers to attend training and workshops. It also provides for some classroom materials and compensation for our test proctors. Um, ACT exams last year cost students $99 for all exams except the AP seminar and AP research. Those ran at
042$129. The Sou Falls School District is really proud to say that we do not want financial need to ever prevent students from taking part in an AP course and an AP exam. So while College Board and the state of South Dakota have some guidelines and they helped with 496 exams for 278 students. The school fall Souf Falls school district also funded an additional 528 exams for 305 students. Both the AP program and the dual credit programs provide wonderful opportunities for our students to engage in rigorous academic growth. and we are extremely proud that those numbers continue to rise and that we had such a significant uh pass rate this last year. At this time, I stand I ask the board to acknowledge the the Sou Falls School District's advanced placement and dual credit report and
043I stand by for questions. Can I get a motion to acknowledge the report on dual credit and AP? >> Second. >> Questions, discussion, observations. >> Go ahead, G. >> I'm just going to say this is a wow. That's great. It could be the second good news report, maybe the third good news report we've had tonight. So just as proof that we do things right in this district and kids and staff work very hard. So thank you all. >> I also think it's a real opportunity. First of all, I appreciate seeing how our students are taking both the AP and the dual credits. And we also know there's a real difference in the objective of each one. And so I'm wondering if we can explain to the wider audience what we're doing as a district to
044really help guide students and families on which um which path um they would want to go down. And certainly we see them crossing over and taking both. But just how are we what are we going about in educating families and students so that they know how those credits will transfer, the cost of them um and just how it aligns with their future plans. I think a huge shout out goes to our counselors. They do an excellent job of having information sessions and individual sessions with students and families explaining how AP works because uh it does come down to that test on that one day and then the dual credit option as well. And then our teachers do a a great job also in the classrooms. registration time will come up the end of December, beginning
045of February and they start talking to students. Have you thought about this option? Um and then the opportunity to provide some dual credit courses in in the building as well. So we have the college algebra, the college speech in all four high schools and then uh we also have anatomy and physiology and government and other opportunities in high schools. And so students can kind of see what what fits them best. And sometimes uh they try one and and think, well, that went pretty well and so now I I will also try this. And then I just think uh some students are excellent test takers and they feel really confident in in preparing for that AP exam and others just kind of want to keep working at it throughout the semester and and want the ability
046to work asynchrously so they don't have to be in class at that certain time but kind of kind of work on it. Um, I mean, there'll be students who spend tomorrow working a lot on dual credit. Probably not till afternoon or evening, but uh, you know, they they have they're learning to manage that time, too. >> Well, it's a real confidence builder that they're taking a college level class in high school. >> Um, it's a great opportunity for them. >> Yes, >> definitely. But I'm glad you mentioned the role that the counselors play in educating both the student and the families on which path um works best for their situation and also acknowledging the role of the teachers in adapting to new curriculum um and as well as our district in um being nimble in
047being able to meet the dual credit um needs. So >> yeah, they work really hard. >> Any other thoughts? >> Okay. All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. We have acknowledged the AP and dual credit report. Thank you. We are now moving on to agenda item 12, the 2026 Sou Falls School District legislative priorities report. Thank you, Todd. Thank you. >> Glad you're here. >> Me, too. [laughter] >> Yeah. We're gonna we're gonna talk about >> we're going to talk about three things here today when we go through [clears throat] this report of our priorities. One is about our specific priorities. They come out of our group, working group we have with the large school group of and it's kind of our four top priorities out of that group's list of 20 or so.
048Um, second thing we want to talk about is legislative property tax initiatives that came out of that special comprehensive task force and uh the third thing is the governor's property tax proposal because those are going to uh weigh heavy in the uh legislative session upcoming. So first we'll look at uh our our priorities uh once again coming from that large school group position paper. Uh top one is to advocate for the state aid formula to increase annually by 3% or inflation whichever is less or whichever is more instead of whichever is less which is the the statute right now. Second is supports capital outlay funding formula which addresses new growth and inflationary costs for capital expenses. Third is support strengthening and providing consistency to the current system of assessing real property such that a sound
049revenue stream is provided to the general fund for K through2 education. And fourth would be opposed legislation that removes local control from school districts. And I'll run through each one of these kind of I want I think every board member has seen this at least once this uh multicolored uh very busy document. I'm not going to talk about what's on here. It's way too small to see and I think most of our legislators have if they've been to if they've been in the last five years or so to our uh any of our sessions we've had with them. We've always shown this document. Um so this is about we're going to talk about the big part of this is up top the big three which is um you hear about it almost every year I
050I think every year for the last 15 years you hear uh when the usually when the governor gives the the the budget proposal it's the big three are all getting the same increases the big three are state employees state aid and community support providers so this is kind of our analysis of that So going back to 2008 which was the last year before the great recession. Um so it was a year where nobody was planning on a great recession. So everything was was was uh going according to normal. Uh state employees sal the salary and benefit package since then has been 4.03% per year. Um and that's a 92% total increase. the uh community support providers of which we are one. We have a little small part of our of our operation uh gets some
051funding from DSS under this program and that's been 3.39% per year growth and that's just looking at our rate letter that we get every year. So that's a total of 74% growth and then uh state aid over that same period of time has averaged a 2.33% annual increase or a total of 50% So this the state employee salary and benefit package which I'm not saying is too high. I'm saying I'm saying state aid is too low um is you know it's almost doubled the uh the state aid increase. So that's something uh that we want want to get out there every year and hopefully that would be somewhat of a uh uh convincer so that we could get 3% inflation whichever is greater instead of the lesser of um capital outlay funding and growth. uh
052during last year's property tax debate on uh the bill that eventually there was a bill that passed and then there was another bill that created that comprehensive task force. There was some comments from legislators schools are getting off scot-free the 2020 any future legislation must impact them. Well, we uh got we we received our impact back in 2016 when the the legislature passed a half cent sales tax to increase teacher salaries. They also severely limited capital outlay growth for schools and got rid of the pension fund. Two, both of those were were property tax uh creators or property property tax items for schools. Um, so the result eight years later of that in just the capital outlay is that schools have lost 16.4 million more in capital outlay taxing authority than the schools received under
053the half cent sales tax increase in the general fund. So it's actually a net a net losser on that based on the the the severe restrictions they have they have placed on schools. I think the total on that is about the pension fund we lost about $16 million. Um when you account for how much was rolled into the state aid formula and on the capital outlay fund it's around 650 or $60 million. So it it it's a big we have received our our haircut so to speak in uh in the taxing authority of the schools and uh so we weren't really affected by the legislation that passed last year but uh they we'll show you later here they've come out like gang busters trying to affect schools um in the proposed legislation for next year
054um strengthening real property assessment to assure a sound revenue stream to schools. They don't want any of these proposals to create uh weird items where you're in your general fund and the the two state aid formula items where you're actually losing money. You're not being able to collect enough money to get to the to the uh the per pupil amount because state aid formula is a combination of two things. State aid and property taxes. And you don't want assessors in one county to be lower than assessors in others. and somehow that stops a school's ability to raise funds to get up to that amount. And then another thing that is more of our slant on it is the statewide burden among classes of property over time has shifted from the the burden and accounting for
055the when you take out the accounting for the growth um a has uh got the biggest benefit over time going back to 2000 it's uh 21.8 8 million less than it would be if everything was equal. Owner occupies up 31.3 million. And that's what's driven the property tax revolt, if you want to call it that, is owner owner occupied um taxes. And then and then commercial property is down 8.9 million. So maybe they want to do something to to more restore that. Um so that's kind of our issue on that item. And then local control, it's essential, it's essential to meeting the unique needs of school districts. Unfunded mandates uh kind of tear a hole in that. And schoolboard elections give citizens the uh the direct say in how you know how how they want
056their school board to act. And if they don't like what you're doing, they'll vote you out and put in put in a new board. So, it's less we want less states dictating to every school district what they must do and more about let the local let the locals decide because what we consider a priority here and you just heard two reports on that might not be a priority in rural South Dakota or things like that. That's why we have so many kids taking and passing AP tests compared to our size of the district of the state. It's amazing. So, let let the let the locals decide. seems fairly easy. Now that now we get to the comprehensive property task force and this comes from their press release. They're they're offering a immediate $120 million tax
057rebate um based on leftover money that they haven't spent. A 5% cut in state government spending which is going to yield another 123 million into the future uh for tax relief. um direct 105 million of the new sales tax. So they went up a half cent back in 2016. They it it was reduced to by 3/10en of a percent or 3.3 of a cent and uh that's set to come back on that that.3. So they want to direct that to property tax relief and allocate this is unique and uh allocate 25% of future state revenue growth to property tax relief which uh I think I'll show you some numbers here that well I would say maybe that's a good idea. Now the total of this is 348 million but there's no this was a press
058release there's no details in that and uh so you know it's not a saying I invented the devil's in the details um and this wouldn't explain everything but there there's 19 specific recommendations that they forwarded to the uh the executive board and six of those recommendations uh we would say negatively affect negatively affect schools. And uh one is uh would subject schools to the state state limit same state limits as counties and municipalities. Basically last year they were reduced to 2 and a half% plus a limit on growth. Um there's a reason we'll we'll get through we'll get we'll analyze these here each one of these in turn. Um, no transfers from the capital outlay to the general fund and capital outlay only increases the lesser of 3% inflation. No, no, nothing in there for
059growth. Um, item M, uh, all school district optarts are subject to an election. Item N, uh, decreases the petition requirement. So assuming M doesn't pass, I guess decreases the petition requirement of 5% of the most two uh 5% of the most recent special election and allows 40 days instead of 20 to pass petitions. Right now it's 5% of the of the total electorate from the last um the last uh general election. So if there was a 100,000 registered um registered voters in Sou Falls School District Union, 5% of that this would be um taken to a percent of those that those that actually voted. Uh, another one O requires elections for all capital outlay certificates, which would be a big change because right now if you if you do want to do a capital outlay
060certificate for over one and a half% of your valuation, it is sub possibly subject to a vote. If it's under that, it is not sub subject to a vote. And item P requires 60 cent approval for all opt out elections, bond elections, and those capital outlay elections if they happen require 60%. Opt outs require 50 or a majority. This would change that to all all optouts. And I it doesn't say schools. Her other ones I'll just talk about schools, these other proposals. So I presumably it would include all units of government on that. Um, so we're going to look at these recommendation D, the one, uh, the one about the, uh, about schools the same as all, it won't work because we have a we have a formula that's meant to equalize. And so if
061everybody's going up just based on what their their new construction is in their in their districts and whatnot, that's going to get all out of whack. And you're going to have you're going to have some counties where to raise the exact same amount as another. you're gonna have to levy 10 bucks per thousand while the other might only have to levy two bucks per thousand. Those will be sooner or later would be found out of compliance with equal equal rights things. In other states, they've had those issues. And so our formula doesn't have that problem right now. This would create that. So that one will not work. Um I the no capital outlet transfers and no growth. Uh so while schools have been underfunded the last 18 years, they've really the legislature has really opened
062up transfers come from capital to the general fund as a way to offset the lack of funding in the general fund. Now then they then they limited what what I mean they severely limited the capital outlay in 2016, but still to do this on top of being way behind. if you want to do something like this, get get uh schools caught up with the the state employees since we always get the same increase is is what I would suggest there. Um on M, that's the all school district opt out must be voted on. Um why only schools? Um all local entities that can can do property uh that raise property tax can opt out and we all follow the same rules on that. So, um, it's, uh, it's like, are schools a problem? Well, schools
063are the biggest biggest users, but that's because that's the way the system was developed. Schools, you get your money from property taxes. Municipalities, you get your money from property taxes, fees, and sales tax. And counties, mostly from property taxes and fees. So, well, we're 58 and a half% of the property tax bill, but in 2007, we're down to being 56.2%. 2% now. So we're not the schools are not the are not going up faster than the other taxing entities. So why only schools? And then uh one other thing over that period of time back to 2007 the per capita increase in all property taxes was 3.6% per year. Uh that's not terrible. Um the state sales tax per capita increase was 4.5. So maybe there should be an opt- out provision for the state as
064well. Uh N the one about the petition requirements um kind of appears to be a do as I say not as I do. The sponsor has an interesting track record on improving direct democracy while N would lower the secret s the signature requirements to refer an opt out to a vote and gives petitioners twice the time to get those signatures. last legislative session, the sponsor voted to reduce the time for residents to circulate initiative petitions at the state level. The sponsor also voted for every bill she could that sought to make it harder for citizens to put measures on the ballot. So, it's kind of like, well, if if it's so great, and maybe it is direct more direct direct democracy, then let's spread it around the greatness around. Um O is the one about
065uh public elections for all capital outlay certificates. Why would state want to limit? They already put the limit on what we can raise with those capital. Why would you want to further than why would you want to further go out of your way to limit how those can be spent? Capital outlay is mainly for two things. Well, three now. Some transfers to the general fund, but mainly about facilities and facility repair and equipment, buying equipment. So, you can take a you can take some of your capital outlay and sell a capital outlay bond and then build a school or in in some districts it'd be they do that to to add a couple of classrooms onto their district. you know, some schools with uh 400 kids in their school district, adding a couple of classrooms
066is about like us building an elementary school or something like that. Why would you want to take away that freedom and basically make it make it much more difficult to to uh have nice facilities and when you're already limited on what you can raise in capital outlay set the limit where you want it to be and then let schools use the tools available to them to make the best decisions on how that should happen. Um, re recommendation P is a opt out on elections require 60%. I just say go back to Eminem and look at what we talked about there. It's just another another um thing just to make it that much more difficult. uh Governor Rhoden's proposal, it came out a while ago, a few months ago, and he's offering a proposing an optional
067half cent sales tax to be implemented by counties to reduce property taxes. If all counties implemented the tax, it would generate $167 million in property tax relief. It won't. All counties won't do it. It's made they think uh six or so would do it. um those that had the rapid growth in in valuation. If the sales tax generates more revenue than taxes paid by homeowners in the county a and commercial then would also get property tax relief. But the first the first amount of it goes to to paying down the the owner occupied taxes that are paid to the county for county use. not for school use or city use or fire district use, but but just for the county's levy. And then both a decision to implement or not implement the tax by a
068county commission subject to referral or an initiated ordinance by the by the voters. summary. Uh we uh the Sou Falls School District continues to advocate for sustainable, predictable, and equitable funding for public education while opposing measures that limit local authority or reduce financial flexibility. The proposed statewide property tax reforms and gubanatorial initiatives have the potential to significantly impact K- through2 funding more so the the uh non-governor proposals and uh district administration will continue to monitor the developments closely and engage with legislators to ensure the interests of students and staff and taxpayers remain protected. Um the recommendation from the admin here today is acknowledge the update on the Sou Falls School District's 2026 legislative priorities and the South Dakota legislative and gubanatorial property tax initiatives. I'd stand by for questions. >> Okay, we're we're first going
069to get um this um motion brought forward and then stand by for questions. Can I get a motion to acknowledge the uh 2026 Sou Falls School District legislative priorities report? So moved. Second. Questions, discussion. Gail. So three ballot questions got approved and made the November 3rd deadline. um so that they can circulate petitions now. And one of the ballot questions has uh one of the ballot questions states that it would repeal property taxes and replace it with a transaction tax if that would get on the ballot or if that would be approved by the voters. How would that negatively impact us? Well, they they have to figure out who's going to get what and how how you know I don't even do they just say here's your share. I mean this do school boards, counties,
070municipalities do they they don't I don't think they they really deal with the mechanism on okay here's how we raise the money. Um but how does it get to the get to the end users? You're going to have to have a state formula for every local property taxing entity. I would guess it'd be be a lot of tentacles involved. >> It seems to me it's an important distinction distinction in that this isn't an attack on education. It seems like it is a property tax issue. It just is that our funding mechanism at this time is through property tax. So to your end, Gail, what are they going to come up with to fund public education? You know, Todd, can you explain the difference between a transaction tax and just plain sales tax? >> Yeah, a
071transaction tax is if you buy something for uh $100,000, I think the maximum is 15 bucks is what you pay if I remember right. And uh if you buy something for $15, I think it's a $1.50 is the one I heard. Now, that proposal, the one I heard presented to the committee was that 10% up to up to 15 bucks, I believe. So yeah, what everybody would be doing is first thing you do is limit your number of trans instead of ordering something from Amazon. This just an example, but from Amazon every day when you see something you you'll just store up and and and buy a you know a large. So they're not they're not I believe their numbers will be way off in how many transactions they'll actually be taxing because when you
072tax something you get less of it. So, you will maybe buy the exact same amount of groceries, but uh instead of going to the grocery store every day, you're going to do it once a month or once every two weeks. But yeah, that's and and sales tax tax is the percent of the the sale. >> Don Mar. >> Um well, thank you for breaking this down. Um, this was really really helpful for me to just see um a little bit of what to expect uh some of the characters behind each of these things. What I've really enjoyed is the invites that we've had to our legislators in coming into the schools, offering up just an open dialogue, walking around the schools, getting perspectives from not just admin, but your day-to-day staff, your custodians, like everybody
073has been so wonderful when walking our halls. And for those legislators that even say, you know, I'm I'm an public education supporter, they would tell me afterward, I knew it was great, but man, I just didn't know that you guys did all of this. And to see every single classroom with all the dynamics that we have, I know we've highlighted breaking down if we were just if Sped was removed as its own school. I know there was a debate between it being the fifth or sixth largest school district in the entire state and I don't think that's a perspective that a lot of people recognize that's so special about Sou Falls is that we do provide for a lot of needs. So I I'm doing this nice sandwich thing. I'm going to try this. Um
074so I started out with the positives, right? Um for the ones that seem to be a reoccurring um concern, I guess, or they they have concerns, I should say. Um have they been invited by us to do these legislative tours and follow up to that immediately? Is it if they've done it, have said yes or responded? >> Take that. >> Each of the individuals that touch the Sou Falls School District in any way uh have been invited to come to and visit our school. So that'd be 30 individuals and by the time we're done, I think we'll have approximately 20 of those 30 that will visit our schools. So not all of which have accepted and some have had some other things that have come up. I understand that. >> Um but we have invited
075each one of those individuals to come in to visit our schools. Yes. >> And if a person were to have concerns about specifically Sou Falls schools, Dr. Arnold, would you answer their questions and have an open conversation about some of these proposals and what it could or couldn't do to public schools? >> We have offered that to each one of the individuals to be able to sit down and have conversations over some of these uh topics to see what type of a detriment that would have um on public schools. So, yes, that offer has been extended out and will continue to be extended out and is an open offer at any point in time. Uh we've worked very hard through this fall to meet with any and all groups, which has been a little bit
076of taxing on on some of our our staff, but that's a commitment we've made to make sure that we get out and talk to all the groups and uh have individuals come in so we can work with them and answer their questions to make sure that people are aware of what these uh type of proposals do to education. And some of these range from almost absurd, especially when it started out, and some of the numbers that they were talking about as far as we're just going to cut it by 50%. That was some of the comments thrown out. And those comments, I realize, sometimes are flippant, but they do have an impact on people. And and and our community has been incredible supporters of public education. Over and over again, they have come out to
077support. And so, uh, to say those things does not endure our our taxpayers to them. Now, in the same fashion, we're all in favor of helping to support uh reduction in property tax. And there's some of these proposals that I think have some good merit that can continue to go forward or even be married with other ones that have good merit to see what we can do to reduce property tax and still make sure we uphold the expectations of our community in educating our kids. >> Thank you for that. And Nan said something really kind like it isn't an attack necessarily on public education, but I think even just looking through this list, I'm I'm assuming people can see why we would feel that way at times. And so a reminder that we don't have
078a state income tax. We do get a lot of our support from these property taxes. So, as we're looking forward and working with legislators and again, we are very very open and we it seems like hopefully I'm not speaking for everybody that we agree that we want to talk to anybody willing to talk to us and have that open dialogue and Dr. Nold has done an incredible job getting out in the community, meeting people where they're at. Um, I see him everywhere. He's meeting with all the groups. So to say that one didn't or couldn't get the information or that we aren't being transparent or we're hiding things or our budget isn't available, it's just simply not true. We have multiple avenues of communication. We have multiple avenues to locate where our meetings are, past
079conversations. Um and again, we serve you guys. We're elected people. We are reachable. Um, so I just I actually had something nice written out and I totally went off on a different direction, but I say all that to say like investing in our education is a good investment for everybody. I know we could all preach that until we're blue in the face. Um, but if we could get this worked out and have legislators focus on what we can do to help working families with their property taxes and also uplift and support our hardworking educators, support staff, administrators, etc., etc. That's the direction I'm hopeful for. See, I'm ending with a nice at the end. So, my hope is this open communication, this visits we're having is going to see uh more collaboration in the upcoming
080months. And um I I I'm putting my best foot forward and being hopeful, but again, I'm sending out a public notice. If you have not visited a school and you're a state legislator, please go to your local school, have conversations with the person in charge and step foot in there. Far be it for anybody, any elected person to make a decision about a place that you've never visited, please. Thank you. Just to add clarification when we're talking about the property tax. It's just that it's not the property tax issue is not an attack on education. It is just the property tax is the mechanism of which we're funded by. So just that we're make sure to have some clarification on on what the issue is. I have one one other thing I want to piggy
081back on too is um Todd, do you think it's inevitable that in order to reduce property taxes, the school's budget has to be cut or do you think there are solutions that um would help those people who are struggling with their property taxes or maybe think their taxes are too high. and also appropriately fund our public education system. >> Hey, you wouldn't have to reduce property taxes, you wouldn't have to do that. Right now, the state is, I think, pays about 58% of the of the general fund load of, you know, if it's if it's a billion dollars, they pay 580 million of that. They could re they could increase that percent. They could just divert. And that's what one of some of that some of those proposals that came out of that property tax
082group kind of looked interesting which is like take that 3/10en of a percent and you lower the property taxes not by cutting funding to schools but you lower that by taking that 3/10en of a percent and using it to lower what our share school's share is of the so you know if you can go every if it's uh if it's roughly well I guess it's more like 600 100 million, but it's on $600 million for every percent you can lower that, you know, you're saving six million. So, if you can lower that 10%, you're you're you're getting you're getting up there and getting 60 million. If you could do million, that that would be half halfway there. I mean, you'd be almost halfway there. You'd really lower that. So, no, you long take a make
083a long story even longer. you do not have to you can cut property taxes and not affect funding really to any local government entity. >> So the the interest of of the school district and the interest of the property tax payers are not at odds with each other. >> Uh there is a way to accomplish this. It's just uh doing the work, figuring it out, and not placing blame on the schools uh for just simply doing what we're we're charged to do and have a have a really robust and wonderful education system here. >> Correct. >> It just that is our funding mechanism is property tax. So, it's an important distinction and it would be really easy for somebody to blur those lines that it's the property tax that's the issue and we just happen
084to be funded through the property tax. No. [laughter] Anybody else? >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. The 2026 Souf Falls School District legislative priority report is approved. Thank you, Todd. >> Thanks. >> Um before we adjourn, just a reminder that Renburgg will have another parent meeting on November 13th. Correct. Um on November 19th at 5:30, the board will be having a work session. Um, and on November 24th, we will be having another board meeting. So, if anybody would like to come uh during uh public input time and give us some feedback, that is welcome. >> The second, >> excuse me, the second parent meeting is at George McGovern Middle School. So, we did alternate between the two. The first one was at Renburg and and for the sake of travel,
085we tried to make it two different sites and the second one is at George McGovern's uh middle school in their library. >> Excellent. Thanks, Tommy. >> Okay. Can I please get a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. We are adjourned.