While education funding will be a big issue for South Dakota lawmakers in this year’s legislative session, the dollars available will be a big question.
Joy Smolnisky, Executive Director of the South Dakota Budget & Policy Institute, says Governor Dennis Daugaard did not include much of an increase for schools in his budget message….
Smolnisky says it looks like any additional money for schools will have to be part of any Blue Ribbon report recommendations……
The Blue Ribbon Task Force recommended moving the average teacher pay to forty eight thousand dollars, and possibly using additional sales taxes. That would take about seventy five million dollars.
Smolnisky says another penny sales tax would raise far more than is needed for those teacher raises….
Smolnisky says lawmakers will have to debate a range of options to help schools and other local governments.
