South Dakota: Over 4 yrs, 8% growth in student pop.; 28% growth in SPED pop.

Aug 3, 2018, Pierre (SD) Capital Journal: SD school districts increasingly rely on opt-outs to supplement budgets https://www.capjournal.com/news/sd-school-districts-increasingly-rely-on-opt-outs-to-supplement/article_0e2f51f6-96d6-11e8-80d8-77cfd0e55cd9.html While South Dakota teachers have earned raises over the past two years courtesy of a new half-cent sales tax, school districts across the state continue to struggle with their budgets. Nominal increases in state aid to education have crippled local budgets and caused many districts to consider significant programming cuts or opt-outs to raise additional funds. … “What we’ve seen over the past four years is about 8 percent growth in our student population,” said Brookings Superintendent Klint Willert. “In that same period, however, we’ve seen a 28 percent increase in the number of students with some type of special education need, and at the same time, about a 120 percent increase in students who are non-English speakers.