In 2012, voters rejected the governor’s education reform plan. It was initiated measure 15 and would have raised South Dakota’s sales tax by one cent. This money was earmarked for education and Medicaid. It would have given schools approximately $725 more per student annually. Since it did not pass, we did not gain that funding.
What about sales tax as another option to fund our schools? After much research we found that a sales tax has to come from a legislative rule change in the statute. If we ever do get more than the 3% maximum offered by the state, it is a one-time occurrence. It is not money that can be counted on year after year. This means we have no other source of funding to access to fix the budget crisis. Changing the statutes is a lengthy process. In the past, when it was tried, it was voted down.
In 2012, voters rejected the governor’s education reform plan. It was initiated measure 15 and would have raised South Dakota’s sales tax by one cent. This money was earmarked for education and Medicaid. It would have given schools approximately $725 more per student annually. Since it did not pass, we did not gain that funding.
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http://supportourschoolsrc.com/why-opt-out/
How much will it cost me?
It will cost $72 per year ($6 per month) for a house that’s valued by the county at $100,000. If your house is worth more, you’ll pay proportionately more. If you own ag land worth $100,000, you’ll pay an additional $30 per year, and if you own commercial property assessed at $100,000, your taxes will go up by $150 per year. Logically enough, if your property is valued at $200,000, you’ll pay exactly double what’s listed in the previous paragraph, and so on. That amount of money will give Rapid City Area Schools $6 million more dollars per year with which to operate the district. This opt-out increase will appear on your property tax bill for five years, beginning in April 2016. Is Rapid City the only district asking for an opt-out? NO!There are 151 school districts in the state, and 115 have asked their property owners to pay a little more via an opt-out. Of those, 101 were successful. Sioux Falls voters approved an opt-out back in 2002 and extended it in 2006 without a challenge from the voters! That district is now in its third opt-out. Rapid City has been reluctant to raise property taxes, but simply can’t cut the budget any more without affecting student learning or extracurricular activities. Aren’t the current fiscal problems of RCAS just a matter of mismanagement of funds? Frankly, no, and here’s why. State law allows the legislature to increase the annual General Fund allotment to schools, the money for teacher salaries, benefits and district expenses, by 3% or the cost of living index, whichever is less. RCAS was barely keeping up with inflation when, in 2010, the governor cut the budget by 8.6%. But costs, especially for health insurance and utilities, continued to go up. Read more answers at: http://supportourschoolsrc.com/why-opt-out/
RAPID CITY – The official launch of the “Support Our Schools – Rapid City” effort begins today. This week, a group of local citizens, parents, and committed community members reviewed petitions turned in by organizations opposed to the opt-out resolution passed by the Rapid City Area School Board. They did a good job collecting enough signatures to put this issue to a public vote, thus we will not challenge their efforts. A public vote for all registered voters in the district is scheduled for June 2.
Bringing teacher pay to an equitable level is key for the campaign. Holly Perli, a parent-citizen involved in organizing the “SOS” committee said today, “There is a crisis in our schools. Our teachers haven’t been paid what they deserve, and not having adequate financial resources in the district has a direct effect on students. Almost half of the school districts in the state have opted-out, and we need to take this positive step forward for Rapid City Area Schools. Vote YES on June 2 to support our teachers, our kids, and our community.” Information can be found at www.supportourschoolsrc.com as well as on Facebook under the same name.
http://supportourschoolsrc.com/
The meeting at Black Hawk is an Opt Out Information Meeting that is open to the public. It will be held tomorrow night, Thursday, April 23 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm at Black Hawk Elementary School, 7108 Seeaire St in Black Hawk. Speakers will be Dave Janak, Assistant Superintendent for Fiscal and Support Services; Jeff Nelson, Rapid Rapid City Area School Board Member for Area 6; and Holly Yamada, Black Hawk Elementary Principal.
The meeting is informational. As we know, school board members are not permitted to advocate for or against the proposed opt out now that it has been referred to a public vote. The meeting will be an especially good opportunity for the Rapid City and Black Hawk communities, including but not limited to parents whose children attend Rapid City schools, to learn what the opt out entails - what it means, how it works, etc., so that we can be informed voters come June. Over the last ten 10 years the state has cut educational funding. The intent is to allow the district to fund local needs. Our state is trying to put the control back into our hands and they want the people to fund their own schools. By the state funding statute, a school district can “opt-out” of tax levy limitations. The state caps how much money they take out of taxes to give to the schools. Voting yes on the opt-out will say we need money beyond that cap to fund our schools. This opt-out is for the General Fund or the operating fund segment of the School District’s budget only. With an opt-out Rapid City Area Schools can generate revenue to meet needs above the state allocation. Without an opt-out we are looking at losing approximately 60 teaching positions per year for the next five years. Many other schools have chosen this path to avoid making cuts and maintaining staff, including Sioux Falls. Here are some facts from around the state: 68: number of school districts in South Dakota with an opt-out $25.4 million: opt-out funding raised by school districts, above state K-12 funding limits $6 million: This is the amount the district needs to maintain programs. Sioux Falls has a $7.5 million yearly opt-out. $6.00: This is what it will cost a tax payer per month per $100,000 home value. Below is the link to a guide issued by the state in 2013-2014 to explain how an opt-out works. http://dor.sd.gov/Taxes/Property_Taxes/PDFs/OPTOUT_2013%20pay%202014_SCHOOL%20ONLY.pdf Please copy and paste the link. Below is the info-graphic put out by the school district to explain the different funds. We wanted to explain some details we have uncovered in our independent research. You will notice the first three funds, general (operating budget), capital outlay, and special education have basic explanations. We discovered the money between these funds cannot be transferred between them. The only time the general fund can be accessed to help another fund is if we cannot meet our special education expenses. This is a federal requirement and it must be covered. Another point is that they each have a separate tax levy. Please see our previous posts on taxes to better understand these levies.
Next, we discovered that the food service is completely self-contained and our insurance is self-funded. The health insurance also has reserves and this is used to cover medical expenses. We have included another info-graphic about the reserves to show how they fluctuate. The fund balance/general fund reserve is a working savings account allowing the district to pay its bills on a monthly basis when it receives most income only 2 times per year. To maintain a good credit rating, the fund balance should stay at 12% of the annual budget. We cannot spend this down to zero because then we would have no operating capital. The district will dip below that 12% this year. If the fund balance is too low the district will need to obtain a loan to pay expenses and then pay back the interest on that loan. It is now required by the state that our district publish the budget on a monthly basis. We are committed to get that information out to the public. We are hoping it will help the public see that our finances are in dire need of a boost. Please send us any questions so we can help further explain the different funds. Please send us your questions, concerns, or comments! [email protected]
At the core of this debate is a strong community grounded in the idea of combating increases to taxes. They are unequivocally, under no circumstance going to support the opt-out based on deep rooted values. These are the people we need to engage in conversations. You may be surprised to hear that many of our members are usually opposed to higher taxes, but in this instance they support the opt-out fully. Why? Because we understand that property taxes are used to support our infrastructure. We have explored the severity of the problem and know the cost of opposing the opt-out is too high. We are educated and informed on this topic and find ourselves listening to differing opinions. It’s important to acknowledge questions and make a commitment to answer them. Not the answers that suit either side, but the truth. This type of local control is by design by our state leaders. We can share statistics about investing in our schools and look at the economic development portion of the debate. State facts and percentages about educational funding can be easily accessed. If you know someone who is anti-opt out, engage in these conversations and you may find you have some common ground. Tax increases can be divisive but we can all understand the importance of a strong educational system.
Here are some helpful links to start those conversations: https://bfm.sd.gov/budget/rec15/misc/State_Aid_Formula_FY2015GovRec.pdf http://www.sdbpi.org/powerpoint-for-south-dakotans-talking-k-12-education-funding?hc_location=ufi This is truly a fundamental question concerning our schools in Rapid City. It boils down to the State Funding formula and the cuts made in past decade. In 1997 South Dakota began funding schools based on a Per Student Allocation (PSA) – or the cost it takes to educate a student. At that time the legislature determined the baseline Per Student Allocation.
Each year the legislature votes to increase funding based on CPI or 3% which ever is less. CPI is the consumer price index as set by the federal government. It is a measure of inflation. SD just voted to raise the minimum wage by this same index or CPI in the last election. Prior to 2011, the PSA was increased annually at an average rate of 3%. In 2011, the SD Legislature gave a 0% increase. The following year the PSA was cut by 8.6%, as was the entire State budget. At this same time, the state investment in K-12 education has been decreasing as a portion of the state general fund budget for the last 10 years. As a result 66 of 151 schools districts in South Dakota have taken advantage of an option in the funding statue to “opt-out” of tax levy limitations. This opt-out is for the General Fund or the operating fund segment of the School District’s budget only. With an opt-out Rapid City Area Schools can generate revenue to meet needs above the State Allocation. All that revenue stays in Rapid City. Because the District must operate under a balanced budget, without an opt-out, cuts will continue to be made annually. The District estimates that the equivalent of 60-70 people and the programs they run will have to be cut each year, even if the PSA is increased by 3% annually. That is close to 300 jobs over 5 years. Rapid City has a choice to make about how our schools will look into the future. The time to make that choice is today. Talk to your friends and family and support the opt-out resolution. By not taking this issue to a public vote, we can move forward with the business of educating our children. Choose not to sign a petition. For more information see Links. In times of stress encouragement can go a long way. At last night’s school board meeting it was encouraging to see how many people turned out to learn about the inner workings of our district. Communities that participate in the process and have healthy discussions make gains. Our students are more likely to attend school, take higher level classes, perform better on tests, and stay engaged in their own city. This means we have an obligation to understand collaboration and its role in helping our district. Collaboration is the beginning of creating something great. Sometimes there will be disagreements but if we all commit to a common goal of stronger schools, we can overcome those disagreements and work toward the greater good.
The name of this group “reviving” implies breathing life and growing this organization. In order to restore and revitalize RCAS it is valuable to identify what is wrong and ways to fix it. It is also our responsibility to showcase when even the smallest iota of positivity is shown. This is the case when Dr. Mitchell agreed to meet with schools to discuss changes. We thank him for this step in the direction of an open dialogue. It is amazing to see so many be inspired and speak their own truth, just as we are. As one of our members reminded us, “We need to keep learning, asking questions, & growing our support for transparency in a positive way.” The commitment of attending the board meetings and having a presence in this movement is invaluable. There are bound to be some difficult conversations ahead but the point is to have them and look for solutions together. Tuesday night is a school board meeting that we urge you to attend. Too often, these meetings have only a handful of people in attendance. Major decisions about our district are being made at these meetings and it helps the board to see the community being involved. We need to ask questions and comment about recent changes. How are we building trust? Where is the accountability? We know the administration has the right to make decisions and changes but just because you have the right does not mean it is a good idea. We want the timing of everything to be considered. We are trying to help the district obtain more funding through an opt-out. This community is already divided over raising taxes and making changes to staff and curriculum is only going to hurt the cause. Our district is unstable and we need the opt-out to give it a better financial footing. We also need the community to start trusting our leadership again. Please join us in becoming more involved in our schools on Tuesday night at 5:30 at the City School Administration Building.
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