March 2, 2009
The Honorable Tim Rave
Speaker of the House
500 East Capitol Avenue
Pierre, SD 57501-5070
Dear Speaker Rave and Members of the House of Representatives,
I herewith return House Bill 1171 and VETO the same.
House Bill 1171 is entitled, An Act to exempt any school district from the minimum size
requirement if it operates the only remaining public high school located within the
boundaries of any county.
The title of the bill aptly describes what House Bill 1171 does. While creating a
connection between the county and a high school was argued by the proponents, I
believe the real purpose of the bill is to exempt the Herreid School District from the
minimum school size of 100, as stipulated by SDCL 13-6-97.
An unintended consequence of House Bill 1171 may be to exempt other school districts
from provisions of SDCL 13-6-97. There are 22 counties in eastern South Dakota
which are smaller than Campbell County. The protection House Bill 1171 seeks to
provide may be extended to school districts which have fewer students than the Herreid
School District in counties much smaller than Campbell County. As such, I believe
artificial lines on a map should not be the basis for an exemption from the
reorganization requirement. Instead, I believe physical factors, such as distance from
another secondary school, land area of the school district, and other geographic
circumstances need to be the basis by which to consider an exemption to SDCL 13-6-
97. Exemptions to SDCL 13-6-97 should be considered only when there are significant
factors which limit the ability of a school district to reorganize with another school
district. Again, those factors should be the basis for law, not arbitrary boundaries which
are over
100 years old.
Testimony provided by proponents to House Bill 1171 indicated the Herreid School
District is not currently below the minimum school size of 100. Also, proponents to
House Bill 1171 testified in the Education Committees the school district's enrollment is
not likely to fall below 100 students in the near future. Current enrollment data from the
Department of Education indicate 2008 K-12 enrollment at 132 students. It also
appears enrollment for the past 5 years has been relatively stable: 2007 fall enrollment
(129), 2006 (133), 2005 (140), 2004 (140). The data further indicate the Herreid School
District enrollments will not fall below the 100 minimum in the near future. Grades K-5
currently have 44 students, grades 6-8 have 40 students, and the high school grades 9-
12 have 42 students.
Testimony given by members of the community described very positive activity for
economic development in the Herreid area. I commend the leadership of the
community for their efforts to bring businesses to the region. Economic growth in
Herreid should yield more jobs and, thus, more families moving into the area. This will
help stabilize, if not increase, enrollment for the Herreid School District.
Over the course of the past 2 years, the school districts of Conde, Harrald, Polo,
Carthage, South Shore, Northwestern, and most recently Wood, have all reorganized.
They have reorganized with other school districts in compliance with state law.
Because these reorganized school districts have complied with the provisions of
SDCL 13-6-97, I believe it is a harmful precedent to exempt a school district from the
provisions of SDCL 13-6-97 based solely upon an arbitrary factor such as a county
boundary. I believe it is unfair to the citizens of these districts, who have complied with
the law, to allow the exception provided by House Bill 1171. All these communities
have made difficult decisions and sacrifices necessary to reorganize. House Bill 1171
may be seen as an injustice to these citizens.
I urge the sponsors and the proponents of House Bill 1171 to consider an exception or
exceptions to the provisions of SDCL 13-6-97 which are based upon geographic or
other considerations which may impair the ability of a school district to efficiently
reorganize with another school district.
Therefore, I respectfully request that you concur with my action.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Michael Rounds
Governor