• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota school superintendents clearly appreciate Gov. Dennis Daugaard's proposal to boost state financial aid to school districts by 3 percent next year, nearly double the inflationary increase required by state law. But they also plan to ask the Legislature for a little bit more.
• School officials and education groups will support a legislative study panel's recommendation that state aid to schools be increased by 3.8 percent to put spending per student back where it was before budget cuts imposed in 2011 when a sluggish economy limited state tax collections.
• Beresford Superintendent Brian Field said his district has cut about $700,000 in staff expenses since the 2005-2006 school year, going to two sections instead of three for grades 5-12. A 3 percent boost in state aid would provide Beresford $65,000, while a 3.8 percent increase would add another $24,000. That extra money could be used to restore the school nurse to full-time and maybe hire some support staff, he said.
• Beresford is balancing its general operating budget now by using money that normally goes for equipment and buildings, Field said.
• "We've trimmed it back as much as we can," Field said. "Obviously anything we can get is going to be helpful."
• Baltic Superintendent Robert Sittig said a 3 percent raise would give his district an extra $51,000, but a 3.8 percent increase would provide another $15,000 that likely would be used to boost teachers' salaries. Baltic is covering its $2.7 million operating budget by tapping reserves and building and equipment money, he said.
• "It's very hard to make the budget work when we'd get less money next year than we did five years ago," Sittig said. "For us, it's a little hard to understand why our funding can't be back to at least where it was before."
• South Dakota law requires per-student spending, a combination of state money and local property taxes, to annually increase by the rate of inflation up to a maximum of 3 percent a year.
• State aid was frozen in 2010 and then cut in 2011 as part of Daugaard's plan to

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