What's in the Sioux Falls School District's proposed $346M budget for fiscal year 2025?
The Sioux Falls School District is considering an equal $346,778,093 budget for both revenues and expenditures in fiscal year 2025.
That’s an increase of $13,365,199 in revenues from the current budget for fiscal year 2024, and an increase of $20,719,932 in expenditures, too.
Most of the budget areas will be maintained at the same level as they were in fiscal year 2024, but some will see changes or reductions.
Superintendent Jane Stavem said during a board work session Wednesday that the budget does the best job it can of preserving the quality of the district’s system as well as enhancing it, being efficient and having a return on investment.
“With that, we’re also reliant upon everybody doing their job every single day, and that’s our employees, that’s our parents, and that’s our students,” Stavem said. “To make everything that we fund work, we’re heavily reliant upon people.”
Board members Carly Reiter, Marc Murren and Dawn Marie Johnson were present for the work session; Kate Serenbetz and Nan Baker were absent.
Reiter noted it’s not like the district has one checking account that it can write checks for whatever it wants, but there are lots of different inflows of money from federal, state or taxpayer funds, and certain money can only be spent on certain things.
“I know sometimes it’s confusing when you see, ‘Oh, why did they spend money on that? They should’ve done this,'" she said. "Well, those dollars can’t necessarily be used to pay for the same thing."
Business manager Todd Vik said each of the district’s 19 budget committees were asked to prepare three funding options: a level of full funding similar to last year, a 2% cut, or a 4% cut.
The budget will be heard again at an April 3 work session, tentatively approved at the April 8 board meeting, and finally approved in July.
Athletics
The athletics department and district are recommending a $322,868 increase in the athletics budget, but that still means some reductions to parts of the budget.
Vik said athletics is trying to streamline some things, including reducing travel and unnecessary rentals. He said this is about “enhancing efficiency.”
Areas affected include:
Elimination of Golf Genius, as the South Dakota High School Activities Association has decided to adopt a different golf scoring software for meets that’s free for schools to use.
Reduction of dance supplies recommended by all four high schools, which stated it would have minimal impact on the amount of supplies they require.
Reduction of Daktronics service agreement stemmed from negotiations aimed at reducing the overall cost of the service agreement.
Elimination of miscellaneous travel as a result of negotiations with the Parks and Recreation Department and Sanford Sports to provide more affordable options for softball teams to host home games.
Adjusting volleyball travel to eliminate the need for overnight long-distance trips for volleyball teams, as Tea Area became an AA-level school, and Sioux Falls’ four high schools adjusted their schedules to accommodate Tea Area.
Reduction of powerlifting travel by coordinating a bus sharing agreement among the four high schools and scheduling more home events.
Elimination of powerlifting awards, which will now use trust and agency funds to provide awards, should they choose to do so, following other athletics programs in the district.
Elimination of powerlifting equipment rental fees as part of the district’s request to acquire equipment for each of the schools through capital outlay funding.
Reduction to middle school wrestling transportation as the majority of the Metro Athletic Conference contests are scheduled on Saturday, and bus sharing with transportation to Brandon Valley, Harrisburg and Tea Area.
Elimination of high school football trailer rental for away games as recommended by high school football coaches in the district.
Student Assistance Teams
The district has had a multi-tiered system support model in place for three years in all the school buildings. That model includes problem-solving teams, which the budget recommends take the place of Student Assistance Team (SAT) coordinators.
SAT members meet to support teachers in finding the right options and/or strategies to use with a student to make them successful, and facilitate the process to identify and discuss available support services needed for students who struggle with academics and behaviors.
Assistant Superintendent Teresa Boysen said problem-solving teams are a team of people that meet to do that instead of one person in isolation, like a SAT coordinator.
This is a decrease of $35,326 for elementary school programs and $14,948 for middle school programs.
Other
Other adjustments to the budget include:
A 3.58% reduction to the auxiliary programs budget eliminating funding for online programs since another cost center pays for those programs.
Reducing $16,486 in purchased services (eCare school nurse services), but reinstating $7,800 in health supply funds, $5,000 in extra hourly teacher pay for school nurses, and $11,000 in extra hourly teacher pay for 504 coordinators and homebound instructors.
Reducing $40,000 of substitute teacher allocation for new hire visits, as new hire visits are currently supported through the state mentor program.
A 4.33% reduction in the administrative and legal services department to move one administrator in safety and security from a 12-month contract to an 11-month contract, and to remove the teacher internship program, since there is a state-funded education program for education assistants to become teachers through a fast-tracked process.
An addition of $100,809 to the Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment budget to add one full-time technology coach to the staff, transferring them from expiring pandemic funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, with a $75,000 salary and $25,809 in benefits.
A $158,817 addition to the general elementary behavior programs budget, and a $357,391 addition to the special education elementary behavior programs budget, for additional staff with behavior training to support the needs of the district at Horace Mann. Current staffing “has not been meeting the behavior needs of the district,” according to the budget document.
A $39,658 increase to the fine arts budget that will expand esports to all four high schools, but also eliminate funding for district-wide festivals that give students large-group concert and recruiting experiences, according to a budget document, and make a small reduction to district-wide supplies.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School District proposes $346M budget for fiscal year 2025
