An Act to amend the school funding formula to provide for the use of an averaged fall enrollment when determining local need.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota:
Section 1. That 13-13-10.1 be AMENDED:
13-13-10.1. The education funding terms and procedures referenced in this chapter are defined as follows:
(1) Nonresident students who are in the care and custody of the Department of Social Services, the Unified Judicial System, the Department of Corrections, or other state agencies and are attending a public school may be included in the fall enrollment of the receiving district when enrolled in the receiving district;
(2) "Fall enrollment," is calculated as follows:
(a) Determine the number of kindergarten through twelfth grade students enrolled in all schools operated by the school district on the last Friday of September of the current school year, and add to that number the product of 0.10 multiplied by the number of children who participated in the prior school year in high school interscholastic activities sanctioned or sponsored by the South Dakota High School Activities Association, as permitted by 13-36-7, while receiving alternative instruction pursuant to 13-27-3;
(b) Subtract the number of students for whom the district receives tuition except for:
(i) Nonresident students who are in the care and custody of a state agency and are attending a public school district; and
(ii) Students who are being provided an education pursuant to 13-28-11;
(c) Add the number of students for whom the district pays tuition.
When computing state aid to education for a school district pursuant to 13-13-73, the secretary of the Department of Education shall use the school district's fall enrollment;
(3) "Target teacher ratio factor," is:
(a) For school districts with a fall enrollment of two hundred or less, the target teacher ratio factor is 12;
(b) For districts with a fall enrollment of greater than two hundred, but less than six hundred, the target teacher ratio factor is calculated as follows:
(i) Multiplying the fall enrollment by .00750;
(ii) Adding 10.50 to the product of subsection (b)(1);
(c) For districts with a fall enrollment of six hundred or greater, the target teacher ratio factor is 15.
The fall enrollment used for the determination of the target teacher ratio for a school district may not include any students residing in a residential treatment facility when the education program is operated by the school district;
(4) "English learner (EL) adjustment," is calculated by multiplying 0.25 times the number of kindergarten through twelfth grade students who, in the prior school year, scored below level four on the state-administered language proficiency assessment as required in the state's consolidated state application pursuant to 1111(b)(2)(G) of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. For the 2021-2022 calculation only, the EL adjustment is calculated by multiplying 0.25 times the number of kindergarten through twelfth grade students who scored below level four on the state-administered language proficiency assessment in school year 2019-2020 or 2020-2021, whichever is greater;
(5) "Index factor," is the annual percentage change in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers as computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor for the year before the year immediately preceding the year of adjustment or three percent, whichever is less;
(6) "Target teacher salary," for the school fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023, is $59,659.25. Each school fiscal year thereafter, the target teacher salary is the previous fiscal year's target teacher salary increased by the index factor;
(7) "Target teacher benefits," is the target teacher salary multiplied by twenty-nine percent;
(8) "Target teacher compensation," is the sum of the target teacher salary and the target teacher benefits;
(9) "Overhead rate," is thirty-eight and seventy-eight hundredths percent.
Beginning in school fiscal year 2018, the overhead rate shall be adjusted to take into account the sum of the amounts that districts exceed the other revenue base amount;
(10) "Local need," is calculated as follows:
(a) Divide the average fall enrollment, as defined by subdivision (20), or the fall enrollment for the current school year, whichever is greater, by the target teacher ratio factor;
(b) If applicable, divide English Learner (EL) adjustment pursuant to subdivision (4) by the target teacher ratio factor;
(c) Add the results of subsections (a) and (b);
(d) Multiply the result of subsection (c) by the target teacher compensation;
(e) Multiply the product of subsection (d) by the overhead rate;
(f) Add the products of subsections (d) and (e);
(g) When calculating local need at the statewide level, include the amounts set aside for costs related to technology in schools and statewide student assessments; and
(h) When calculating local need at the statewide level, include the amounts set aside for sparse school district benefits, calculated pursuant to 13-13-78 and 13-13-79;
(11) "Alternative per student need," is calculated as follows:
(a) Add the total need for each school district for school fiscal year 2016, including the small school adjustment and the English learner adjustment, to the lesser of the amount of funds apportioned to each school district in the year preceding the most recently completed school fiscal year or school fiscal year 2015 pursuant to 13-13-4, 23A-27-25, 10-33-24, 10-36-10, 11-7-73, 10-35-21, and 10-43-77; and
(b) Divide the result of (a) by the September 2015 fall enrollment, excluding any adjustments based on prior year student counts;
(12) "Alternative local need," is the alternative per student need multiplied by the fall enrollment, excluding any adjustments based on prior year student counts;
(13) "Local effort," the amount of ad valorem taxes generated in a school fiscal year by applying the levies established pursuant to 10-12-42. Beginning on July 1, 2017, local effort will include the amount of funds apportioned to each school district in the year preceding the most recently completed school fiscal year pursuant to 10-33-24, 10-35-21 as provided by subdivision (15), 10-36-10, 10-43-77, 11-7-73, 13-13-4, and 23A-27-25 and that exceeds the other revenue base amount;
(14) "Other revenue base amount," for school districts not utilizing the alternative local need calculation is the amount of funds apportioned to each school district pursuant to 10-33-24, 10-35-21 as provided by subdivision (15), 10-36-10, 10-43-77, 11-7-73, 13-13-4, and 23A-27-25, calculated as follows:
(a) Beginning on July 1, 2017, equals the greatest of the amounts of the funds apportioned to each school district pursuant to 10-33-24, 10-35-21 as provided by subdivision (15), 10-36-10, 10-43-77, 11-7-73, 13-13-4, and 23A-27-25 for school fiscal years 2013, 2014, and 2015;
(b) Beginning on July 1, 2018, multiply eighty percent times subsection (a);
(c) Beginning on July 1, 2019, multiply sixty percent times subsection (a);
(d) Beginning on July 1, 2020, multiply forty percent times subsection (a);
(e) Beginning on July 1, 2021, multiply twenty percent times subsection (a); and
(f) Beginning on July 1, 2022, is zero;
For school districts utilizing the alternative local need calculation, the other revenue base amount is zero until such time the school district chooses to no longer utilize the alternative local need calculation. At that time, the other revenue base amount is calculated as defined above.
For a school district created or reorganized after July 1, 2016, the other revenue base amount is the sum of the other revenue base amount for each district before reorganization, and the new school district may not utilize the alternative local need calculation.