Highlights & Insights
by Heath Larson
ASBSD Executive Director
During her recent budget address, Governor Kristi Noem outlined a plan to utilize $4 million of taxpayer money to pay for a new program she is calling "education savings accounts." Let’s be clear. This is a school voucher program that diverts public dollars to private schools or alternative education programs with little transparency or accountability to taxpayers.
Some will say this is about "school choice," but the reality is that these programs force future legislatures and local communities to make hard choices in the future. Numerous states have started these voucher schemes and have had devastating impacts on state budgets.
One example is Arizona. Arizona started a similar program in 2022 with a price tag of $65 million. In just a few short years, that program is estimated to cost $429 million and is responsible for two-thirds of the state's $1.4 billion budget deficit for the combined 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. Iowa, which hastily passed a voucher program in the opening weeks of its 2023 legislative session, is now facing a $200 million budget deficit. More private schools are opening, mostly in urban areas such as Des Moines, while small rural schools are closing. These are not isolated incidents but rather a pattern South Dakota should learn from.
This program is about choice, but not good choices for South Dakota rural communities and local school districts. Legislators can choose to fund this voucher program at the cost of cutting other programs such as the ones outlined in the governor's proposed budget. They can cut the dual credit program for high school students, which provides a step up to students attending our universities. They can cut the state library program, which provides vital resources to rural schools. They can even choose to cut South Dakota Public Broadcasting, which again offers valuable education and information to citizens of all ages. The legislature can choose to start a voucher program, but only by cutting other services. Is that in South Dakota's best interest?
What does making this choice mean in the long run for South Dakota's schools and communities? We have already outlined what has happened in other states, and the same thing will happen here. There will be less money for public schools, where over 80 percent of the state's students attend—forcing local school boards to make the unpopular choice of cutting staff and having larger class sizes. There will be no room in local budgets for fine arts programs, which are essential for a district's ability to offer an education that reaches all students, especially those at risk. Gone will be the career and technical education programs vital in training the workforce necessary to have a strong and vibrant rural economy. Schools in our rural communities will be hit the hardest, with no choice but to make devastating cuts or close their doors.
The South Dakota Public Schools Coalition emphasizes the importance of evaluating the long-term consequences of introducing a voucher program. Public schools are vital to our communities and require adequate resources to provide equitable, high-quality education to all students, as mandated by the State Constitution. Lawmakers have a duty to uphold this commitment. By rejecting school vouchers, they not only fulfill their constitutional responsibility but also prioritize the best interests of South Dakota’s students and citizens, ensuring strong support for the public education system.
For more information, please contact me at 605-773-2503 or at hlarson@asbsd.org.
by Tyler Pickner
Director of Communications
During the Fiscal Year 2026 budget address, Gov. Kristi Noem proposed an Education Savings Account, which is simply a different term for a school voucher program, to be introduced during the 2025 legislative session.
The voucher proposal would $4 million in public taxpayer dollars used to start the program and the expressed goal for further expansion and more funding. The proposed school voucher program would be detrimental to our public schools.
ASBSD has drafted a sample school board resolution opposing the proposed school voucher program for your school board’s consideration. You can download the resolution by clicking here.
If your board chooses to pass the resolution, please share that information with ASBSD.
In addition, there are two documents from our webinar in November covering the damaging effects of school vouchers that you can download:
If you need any further information or have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact ASBSD Executive Director Heath Larson at hlarson@asbsd.org or at 605-773-2503 or 605-222-6043 or Director of Communications Tyler Pickner at tpickner@asbsd.org or at 605-773-8382 or 605-881-3791.
Join the more than 200 board members and administrators who are part of the ASBSD Legislative Action Network (LAN), which is designed to activate school leaders to communicate to legislators our legislative positions, for the 2025 Legislative session.
We need as many voices as possible this session as proposals to use public taxpayer dollars to start a school voucher program will be introduced, along with less than expected revenue collections meaning we need to advocate for every available dollar for public schools to be appropriated, property tax levy adjustments and many other pieces of legislation that will impact public schools are anticipated.
Click here to download the South Dakota Public Schools Coalition Facts on Vouchers.
To advocate together, we need many members appointed to LAN. The appointment process is online and can be completed through the following steps:
- Click here to access the LAN Appointment form;
- Complete the form;
- Adding multiple individuals from your district for LAN is similar to how a new paragraph is added in a document.
- Click the submit button;
- Should you need to add another board member after you've submitted, click the "Submit another response" link.
LAN members will periodically be contacted by ASBSD during legislative session asking them to contact their legislator(s) and advocate for or against specific legislation. Each board member designated as a LAN member earns 25 ALL points for their local board.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact tpickner@asbsd.org or 605-773-8382.
by Naomi Cromwell
Director of Policy & Legal Services
With the 2025 South Dakota Legislative Session just around the corner, attention is becoming focused on important legislative issues that will impact education and our state's public K-12 schools.
That said, day-to-day issues will continue to arise in your districts that need attending to. Just a reminder that ASBSD's Policy Services is here, year-round, to assist districts with updating their policies and to consult on policy related questions.
As Director of Policy and Legal Services, I am available to discuss questions you may have about your district's policies.
As a member of ASBSD, one of your benefits is free access to all of ASBSD's Sample Policies, which school board members and administrators can access with a username and password assigned to your district. ASBSD also has two options for custom policy development - a fee-based option and a subscription-based option.
For questions related to either, feel free to contact me at ncromwell@asbsd.org.
The 2025 election cycle for the ASBSD Board of Directors has begun and school board members from your district can run for election in the region and enrollment category in which your district is in.
Those region and enrollment categories include:
- Southeast region with enrollment 700-1,399
- Beresford, Canton, Dakota Valley, Dell Rapids, Flandreau, Lennox, Madison Central, Tri-Valley, Vermillion, Wagner Community, West Central
- Western region with enrollment 265 & Under
- Bison, Edgemont, Elk Mountain, Faith, Harding County, Lemmon, Newell, Oelrichs
Eligible board members interested in running for a four-year term on the Board of Directors must download and complete the Announcement of Candidacy form, which you can download by CLICKING HERE, and return it to ASBSD by Thursday, February 20, 2025.
Send completed forms to ASBSD Executive Secretary Katie Mitchell-Boe by email to katie@asbsd.org, by fax to 605-773-2501 or by mail to ASBSD at P.O. Box 1059, Pierre SD, 57501.
Only one school board member per district may sit on the ASBSD Board of Directors.
If you have questions, please contact Director of Communications Tyler Pickner at tpickner@asbsd.org or at 605-773-8382.
