Yankton board hears history and scale of districts special-education program
December 09, 2025 | Yankton School District 63-3, School Districts, South Dakota
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Jerome Clemish, the Yankton School District historian, and longtime special-education teacher Linda Balfany recounted the districts development of services and described the programs current scale at the Dec. meeting.
Clemish traced local services back to the 1950s and said district efforts preceded the federal statute often credited with expanding special education nationwide. "Yankton started two or three years earlier," Clemish said, referencing the period before Public Law 94-142 required school systems to provide special-education services. He noted a first classroom in the mid-1950s and early additions in the 1960s and 1970s, including the districts preschool SPED program launched in 1978.
Former teacher Linda Balfany described early classroom conditions and how local advocates pushed for dedicated space and life-skills resources. "That was truly the beginning that our special-needs people were recognized," Balfany said, recounting a transition from a storeroom to a full classroom with a teaching kitchen and other facilities.
Board members heard how the program expanded through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s with added therapies (speech, physical and occupational therapy), behavioral supports and a specialized SPED wing added in 1987. Clemish told the board the district now employs roughly 130 staff members working with special-education students and serves about 490 students; he said the programs budget has grown from an initial $47,000 to approximately $6,300,000 today.
The presentation also clarified how federal grant dollars are used with nonpublic schools: Clemish said private schools in the area receive a limited portion of federal grant funds ("right around $22,000 this year") and that those dollars support only specific service slots for private-school students rather than the full set of public-school obligations.
Board members asked follow-up questions about mentoring, SRO partnerships and private-school service limits; presenters said mentoring and homeroom interventions have contributed to measurable declines in in-school and out-of-school suspensions and encouraged continued local support for staffing and programming.
The board thanked the presenters and said it would continue regular oversight of the districts special-education resources and program development.
Clemish traced local services back to the 1950s and said district efforts preceded the federal statute often credited with expanding special education nationwide. "Yankton started two or three years earlier," Clemish said, referencing the period before Public Law 94-142 required school systems to provide special-education services. He noted a first classroom in the mid-1950s and early additions in the 1960s and 1970s, including the districts preschool SPED program launched in 1978.
Former teacher Linda Balfany described early classroom conditions and how local advocates pushed for dedicated space and life-skills resources. "That was truly the beginning that our special-needs people were recognized," Balfany said, recounting a transition from a storeroom to a full classroom with a teaching kitchen and other facilities.
Board members heard how the program expanded through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s with added therapies (speech, physical and occupational therapy), behavioral supports and a specialized SPED wing added in 1987. Clemish told the board the district now employs roughly 130 staff members working with special-education students and serves about 490 students; he said the programs budget has grown from an initial $47,000 to approximately $6,300,000 today.
The presentation also clarified how federal grant dollars are used with nonpublic schools: Clemish said private schools in the area receive a limited portion of federal grant funds ("right around $22,000 this year") and that those dollars support only specific service slots for private-school students rather than the full set of public-school obligations.
Board members asked follow-up questions about mentoring, SRO partnerships and private-school service limits; presenters said mentoring and homeroom interventions have contributed to measurable declines in in-school and out-of-school suspensions and encouraged continued local support for staffing and programming.
The board thanked the presenters and said it would continue regular oversight of the districts special-education resources and program development.
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