Where major education bills stand as Legislature’s main work ends until Veto Day

This legislative session was a “banner year for education.”

That’s the sentiment of House Majority Leader Will Mortenson (R-Fort Pierre). After all, the 2024 legislative session saw frank conversations about the state’s teacher pay situation, school safety and school lunch, as well as support from lawmakers regarding a tuition freeze and a 4% increase in funding to education.

More: $7.3 billion South Dakota budget funds $27 million increase, new programs and more

All of the following bills can move forward if Gov. Kristi Noem approves the budget as it stands, and doesn’t veto any of the bills that have passed by Veto Day on March 25. Here’s a closer look at what’s at stake:

Teacher pay, education funding and a tuition freeze

State employees and educators will get the 4% increase in education funding both they and Noem wanted to see this year, an increase that will benefit public K-12 and higher education.

Technical colleges and state universities will also see a tuition freeze for the third year straight, an addition to the budget Noem hadn’t originally supported in December, and a move that will keep students’ tuition from rising.

Multiple bills came up dealing with the state’s near-last-in-the-nation average teacher salary. The main one passed is Senate Bill 127, which requires districts to raise their average teacher compensation, which affects salary, by 97% of the increase approved by the Legislature and governor each year starting July 1. Noem signed the bill on Wednesday in Mitchell.

SB 127 also requires each district to pay their teachers a salary at least equal to a new state minimum teacher salary of $45,000. That’s where the figure will start in fiscal year 2025. It will increase by the percentage change in target teacher salary from the previous fiscal year to the current fiscal year each year going forward.

Districts that don’t follow the bill by increasing average teacher compensation and paying teachers at least the state minimum teacher salary could face an accreditation review, or could be penalized $500 in state aid for each full-time teacher employed in the district.

A similar bill, House Bill 1048, was tabled in the Senate. It progressed through most of the legislative session until SB 127 was amended and took over.

More: South Dakota Legislature passes bill aiming to increase teacher salaries, compensation

Another bill, House Bill 1201, is awaiting the governor’s signature and would appropriate $800,000 to the Department of Labor and Regulation for the teacher apprenticeship pathway program.

More than $3 million in funding for a major higher education project, the Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology, is contained in Senate Bill 45, which Noem signed at Dakota State University on Wednesday.

More: Why 4 of South Dakota’s universities want a Center for Quantum Information Science

Noem also signed House Bill 1022, a $6 million appropriation to the Department of Education to provide professional development to teachers on literacy education based on the science of reading, in Mitchell on Wednesday.

Attempt for school safety results in concealed carry in schools

Sen. Brent Hoffman (R-Hartford) brought three different school safety bills this session: Senate Bill 34, Senate Bill 103 and Senate Bill 203.

SB 34 would’ve required all 148 public K-12 school districts and all 706 public K-12 school buildings in the state to have a school sentinel or school resource officer, but it was killed in the Senate Education committee.

SB 103 would’ve required each exterior door of a public school that’s unlocked during regular school hours to be monitored and controlled by a school district employee or school resource officer who’s physically present, and would’ve required video surveillance at main school doors, but a vote to pass the bill with an amendment failed in the Senate.

SB 203 was the only bill to make it out of the Legislature, and lets school principals give written permission to individuals 21 or older with an enhanced permit to carry a concealed pistol at public elementary or secondary schools. It’s on Noem’s desk.

More: South Dakota bill would allow principals to decide who concealed carries guns in schools

School lunch bills failed

There were two different attempts to free up some of the costs families face when paying for school lunch: Rep. Kadyn’ Wittman’s (D-Sioux Falls) House Bill 1042, and Rep. Tyler Tordsen’s (R-Sioux Falls) House Bill 1238.

HB 1042 would’ve covered the cost of breakfast and lunch for students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals at an estimated cost of $578,000 per year, but was killed in the House Education committee.

HB 1238 would’ve covered costs for families with incomes less than 209% of the poverty line who aren’t already eligible for free or reduced-price meals through federal programs. Tordsen estimated the annual cost between $1 million and $1.5 million. His bill was killed in the House Committee on Appropriations.

Mixed bag on bills monitoring content, events in educational settings

Noem has a chance in the coming days to sign House Bill 1178, which prohibits the Board of Regents or any institution under its control from using state resources for “obscene live conduct.”

HB 1178 mirrors two similar bills from 2023, House Bill 1116 and House Bill 1125, which were an attempt to prevent events such as the student-led drag show on campus at South Dakota State University in November 2022 from ever happening again.

More: Senate committee advances bill banning ‘obscene live conduct’ at South Dakota universities

Two more outright anti-drag bills, House Bill 1113 and Senate Bill 184, were killed in the early stages of being introduced.

HB 1113 would’ve prohibited the use of state resources for the provision of “lewd or lascivious content,” and sought to limit state agencies, institutions or public school districts to spend money or use state-owned facilities to develop, implement, facilitate, host, promote or fund any “lewd or lascivious content.” HB 1113 was killed in the House State Affairs committee.

SB 184 would’ve made someone guilty of disseminating material harmful to minors, a class one misdemeanor, if they were performing in drag. The bill was killed by the Senate Education committee.

Noem has already signed House Bill 1197, which requires schools to publish online or in their local newspaper what policies they have that restrict minors from accessing obscene matter or materials, something that was largely already in place on many district websites or in their policy handbooks.