Brookings School District 05-1 outlines balanced budget with 2.5% teacher pay increase

The Brookings School District 05-1 plans to provide teachers a roughly 2.5% pay increase after a school board meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent Dr. Summer Schultz said Wednesday on Brookings Radio.

Dr. Schultz said the district made the raise a priority to better track inflation after state lawmakers’ allocation fell short. “We were able to give that 2.5%,” she said, adding the district deliberately targeted that point during negotiations and the budget process.

The superintendent said the district’s current budget is balanced and that administrators prioritized preserving existing programs. “As of right now, this is a balanced budget and no programs have been cut in the school district,” she said. At the same time, Dr. Schultz acknowledged the district reduced some positions while reconfiguring schedules and student assignments to chase efficiencies.

On special education funding, Dr. Schultz said the district expects a smaller request to the state’s extraordinary cost fund next year — “less, by a couple $100,000” — in part because the state increased the overall extraordinary cost appropriation this session from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. She said the extra million dollars will allow more districts to access reimbursements when regular rates do not cover students’ needs.

Dr. Schultz cautioned that the district will complete a final budget approval later this summer and that some details remain subject to the formal adoption process. “The final budget will be approved later this summer,” she said, and the district is planning implementation steps to limit disruption for students.

Next steps: the school board will consider the final budget for adoption later this summer; district administrators will proceed with the staffing and program plans described by the superintendent on the radio program.