Rep. Susan Wismer, District One - Britton - Week #2 Column • Each of your District One legislators has been immersed in different policy areas this week. I will devote much of this column to the South Dakota High School Activities Association, as Appropriations Committee had a special hearing with them on Tuesday. This was the first time in my tenure that this group has appeared before us. Their presence had been prompted in part by a perception that even though they are granted existence through an act of the Legislature, they have not been as open in their proceedings as a truly public entity is required to be. • Director Wayne Carney presented on behalf of the association. He noted that the audit reports prepared by the Department of Legislative Audit are currently posted on the SDHSAA website, though I am not clear that they have always been there. He explained that they are a 501(3) organization, which means it is organized as a private non-profit, and it does file a Form 990 which is available for public • review. ( You can Google it). He also gave us budgets and detailed statements of income and expense, including individual tournament income and expense totals. Probably the item that caused the most consternation was the list of communities with “red marks” that had been distributed at the prior SDHSAA board meeting. We also received a copy of that, and Mr. Carney quite sensitively described that there were several items, from height of baskets to restaurant seating, on the list that schools `had called him to correct, so that the document was really quite an effective tool to assist schools and the association communicate about abilities to host events. He noted that Aberdeen for instance has added many motel rooms in the last year, and that the list needed to be updated to reflect that. • Another item causing consternation was the creation of a foundation, with money from the association being diverted to the foundation. The association does have reserves of $1.6 million, and their budget does allow for tournament costs to cover enough of their operating costs so that schools are not charged as much for operations as they would be otherwise, so that is helping our schools keep costs of activities down. • We didn’t get into questions like number of football classes; however because of individual committee members’ experience, we did discuss problems with the recent soccer addition a little. In the end they were encouraged to maintain openness in their proceedings and records, with the implied consequence that the State could bring the group more firmly under State government control if that didn’t happen. • Otherwise, this week our committee has been hearing from the Department of Education, which includes both K-12 and technical schools. As the Governor has proposed, education will get a three percent increase, but that still doesn’t get their budgets back up to the per student allocation that they were allowed five years ago. The technical schools backlog of equipment need is at least $8 million. The Governor’s acknowledgement of the critical needs for workforce development is helping them a little, but we have so much ground to make up there, not only in equipment but in general ability to compete in both faculty pay and student tuition level. • If you have questions and concerns. I may be reached by phone at 237-3086 and through email at [email protected]. •
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:55:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015