Former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s education priorities continue to face setbacks in the Legislature, including proposals to cut funding for the South Dakota State Library and to put $10 million toward school safety grants.

The House Education Committee voted Wednesday to move the two proposals to the legislative budget committee with “do not pass” recommendations.

It’s a battle over priorities in a tight budget year, said Yankton Republican Rep. Mike Stevens.

The same committee last week shot down a Governor’s Office-supported education savings account bill, which would have used $4 million in public funds to pay for a portion of private, online or homeschool instruction costs. Republican leaders plan to advance related legislation.

South Dakota State Library

Noem had proposed cutting the State Library’s funding by about $1 million. The cut would lay off about a dozen employees and jeopardize programming and services local libraries depend on, several librarians told lawmakers at the Capitol in Pierre.

The Department of Education introduced a bill that would change the duties of the State Library to align expectations with Noem’s proposed budget cut.

Were it endorsed by lawmakers, the cut itself would be embedded in the state’s general appropriations bill, which is passed at the end of the legislative session.

State Library budget cut would hamstring local libraries, opponents say

Education Secretary Joseph Graves told lawmakers that key services would still be available if the funding cut were to take effect. That would include statewide training and technical assistance to libraries, Braille and talking book services for people who are blind and hard of hearing, and assistance with literacy programming and organization.

Opponents told lawmakers they doubted such services would be feasible without continued funding. Librarians said they were concerned about losing statewide interlibrary loan services, shared database access and other services. Representatives of local governments said they worried they’d shoulder the financial burden to cover such services.

The committee voted unanimously to move the bill on to the legislative budget committee with a “do not pass” recommendation.

Sioux Falls Republican Rep. Amber Arlint added that she was worried cutting state funds for the library would mean replicating programs and costs elsewhere in the state.

“We all serve the same taxpayers,” Arlint said. “So to cut services to balance our state budget just to pass them onto a different set of taxes is absolutely absurd to me.”

School safety grant funding

Lawmakers on the committee also voted 11-4 against endorsing Noem’s proposed $10 million grant program for school security upgrades.

Scott Rechtenbaugh, criminal justice service director with the state Department of Public Safety, said that although roughly 200 schools have completed safety assessments with the department’s School Safety Center since 2020, many don’t have funding to make recommended upgrades.

That jeopardizes student safety as school shootings continue nationwide and school safety threats increase in the state, he said. Rechtenbaugh reminded lawmakers of the 2015 Harrisburg High School shooting and a 2024 school threat in Winner. No one was killed in either event.

The grant would let the department distribute $2 million annually for surveillance cameras, panic buttons, doors and locks, fencing, gates, barriers and other security measures.

“I know there’s a lot of debate on, ‘Can we afford this?’” Rechtenbaugh said. “But my question is, ‘Can we afford not to?’”

The state Department of Education and the South Dakota Police Chiefs’ Association supported the bill. Dianna Miller, a lobbyist for the Large School Group, was the sole opponent.

“I hope, I pray our budget and sales tax will increase and we do the things necessary to get through this year, and then maybe the program would be ripe for it,” Miller said. “But the fact of the matter is that right now is not the time.”