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Legislature Passes Increase In State Aid To School Districts

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Legislature has passed a 2 percent increase in state aid to school districts despite concerns that the measure shifts some costs to local property taxpayers.

Lawmakers sent to Gov. Dennis Daugaard the plan on Thursday to boost the state’s per-student allocation to $4,876.76.

Daugaard proposed the increase in his December budget plan, which included shifting some of the state’s burden to the local level in order to fund a larger increase in state education aid.

Republican Sen. Brock Greenfield said he would support the legislation but was unhappy with the new local burden.

Republican Sen. Deb Peters told her colleagues that if lawmakers want to increase state aid to school districts then they had to support the plan since it is late in the legislative session.