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Obituaries

It was a disappointing day for residents of Greater Hoyt and Greater Scott School Districts. South Dakota Senate Bill 99 would have allowed the Greater Hoyt and Greater Scott School Districts to continue operating as they have -- by contracting educational services through Akron-Westfield and West Sioux School Districts in Iowa. However, on Monday the South Dakota House of Representatives defeated the bill by a vote of 31-38. In January, South Dakota senators had passed the bill by a vote of 33-2. Prior to the votes, Greater Hoyt and Greater Scott board members and school officials testified before Senate and House education committees. Alcester-Hudson board members also went to the state capitol and opposed the bill. “If we could have had four more votes...” said Greater Hoyt School Board President Greg Heeren Monday evening. “At this time, it appears to be defeated in this legislative session.” “We’re going to wait and see what happens,” he said. “We’re going to have to sit down with our neighboring districts and see what they have to offer.” “Our kids will still go to school in Akron,” said Heeren. “We will have to contract to open enroll (to Akron-Westfield) through another (South Dakota) school district.” “What we lost is the ability to pay for some of the capital outlay projects that we’ve been paying for (at Akron-Westfield), unless we can negotiate something with the district we reorganize with,” he said. “We’ve always helped with building improvements and even a new building. In our contract, it states that we are obligated to certain costs, and we’ve been paying that. Now, I’m not certain if we’ll be able to contribute to those projects.” “I think a lot of the legislators think we are a tax haven,” said Heeren. “That we aren’t contributing to capital building projects. I don’t understand why that message doesn’t get through to them. They don’t read everything apparently. They certainly didn’t look at our contract. They certainly didn’t take that into consideration that we are paying for capital projects.” “The big thing (the opposition) pushed was that we were a tax haven,” said Heeren. “We didn’t believe we are because we are paying $8,400 - $8,500 per student.” South Dakota state aid per student is considerably less. “We’re going to sit down and look at all the options,” said Heeren. “There certainly is the possibility of some things happening this year. I’m not sure how that works.” After discussing options with neighboring districts, then the board will have to decide what they want to do. Once they put together a reorganization plan, then registered voters of the school district will vote on the plan, he explained. “I don’t know if they’ll vote for it or not. They may not approve a plan, and then that puts us into another position: whether or not they can force us to reorganize if the voters reject the plan.” “I don’t know if the state feels they can force a plan upon us,” said Heeren. “There is some argument on that -- why we’d even vote on it if they are going to force a plan on us that (voters) fail.”