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using a standard statewide levy, it receives enough state aid to bring total spending for general operations up to the required level per student. Small schools get extra state aid.
• For property taxes payable this year, 66 districts decided to set property taxes higher than the standard statewide levy.
• Joy Smolnisky of the South Dakota Budget and Policy Project, a nonprofit organization that studies budget issues, said South Dakota school districts get about the same amount of funding from property taxes as those in surrounding states. But state funding per student in South Dakota is significantly lower than in surrounding states, she said. The state's share of school funding in South Dakota was about $3,000 per student in 2011, about half the average state spending in surrounding states, Smolnisky said.
• Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, said all organizations have to adjust how they operate as society changes. She asked what schools have done to use new technology.
• Monson said schools now not only have to teach traditional subjects, but also are required to deal with health education, adopt new technology and switch to a new curriculum in some courses. Teachers are asked to take on those additional responsibilities without any increase in pay, he said.
• The committee plans to meet again July 29-30.
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Native Mob member sentenced for murder
• MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A member of a Native American gang has been sentenced to 43 years in federal prison for shooting and killing a fellow gang member.
• Shaun Martinez was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
• Martinez pleaded guilty in December to one count of murder resulting from using a firearm in a violent crime.
• In a plea agreement, Martinez admitted that he shot and killed Jeremee Kraskey in south Minneapolis in February 2011 to keep him from giving information to law enforcement.
• Martinez was part of a federal case filed against 25 members of the Native Mob. Prosecutors accused gang members of using violence and intimidation to keep the gang in power.
• Authorities say the gang is most active in Minnesota and Wisconsin but also in Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota.
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