Committee: House Appropriations
HIGHER EDUCATION
Mr. Mark Zickrick, LRC, provided budget information to the committee (Document #1).
Mr. Harvey Jewett, President, Board of Regents, told the committee that the Board of Regents has
spent time on critical issues such as salary competitiveness and finding funding for maintenance and
repairs. Mr. Jewett reported that a combination of additional funds and changing to merit pay
increases has provided a tool to help attract as well as keep quality first-class people.
Mr. Jewett told the committee that they have a list of $120 million in maintenance and repairs. He
said Higher Education Facilities Fund (HEFF) dollars based on the number of hours taken by
students could be used for academic facilities repairs, but cannot be used for sports facilities.
Therefore, the institutions have to rely on contributions for these repairs.
Mr. Jewett announced that an agreement had been reached in the past year whereby up to 64 credit
hours from a technical school could be transferred to the higher education institutions. He also
reported that the Governor has recommended funding for electronic curriculum across the state. This
would require people and funds to get this online by next fall.
Mr. Tad Perry, Executive Director, Board of Regents, reviewed the prepared documentation for the
proposed budget recommendations (Document #2). He added that the operating budget includes
resources that are outside the Funding Framework such as student fees and charges, federal grants,
contracts, and gifts.
In his remarks Mr. Perry explained the sources and uses of base budgets and the enrollment change
and adjustments to these budgets. If a university is between 96% and 100% of their target
enrollment, no adjustment is made; below 96% funds are removed but if above 104% funds are
added to the base.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
Dr. Peggy Elliott, President, introduced staff accompanying her and reported that every ten years
Dakota State University seeks continuing accreditation and they have been preparing for this for the
past two years. In discussing the budget request of SDSU, she said that private funds have helped
the college stretch money provided by appropriations. They are continually looking for other funds
to help with maintenance and repairs.
To keep faculty on the cutting edge of technologies SDSU has built 48 smart classrooms and have
faculty trained for this teaching environment. Dr. Ed Hogan emphasized the importance of the Web
site technology and presented the committee a list of Electronic Resources Quick Brief Reference
Guide (Document #3).
SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
Ms. Marge Kaiser, Superintendent, told the committee that they are a fully accredited facility and
advised the committee that the school has benefited from the salary enhancement via the Salary
Competitiveness Plan.
Ms. Kaiser said they have an enrollment in the school of 30 to 35 students but serve 160-170 outside
of Aberdeen. She urged the committee to support the request for the summer program. There would
be no increase in FTE's , but the funds would be used to expand the time for the current staff by six
weeks.
Jeanette Black