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Superintendent: House Bill 1082 appears to pass; district to quantify revenue impact from property tax relief
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Pearson told the board that House Bill 1082 — which would remove remaining meal charges for students on reduced-price lunch — appears to have passed and that Senate Bill 245 on property-tax relief also passed, creating lost revenue the district will analyze and seek to mitigate.
Dr. Pearson, the district superintendent, told the board the school had received early word that House Bill 1082 “looks like it passed,” a change he said would have the state assume remaining meal costs for students on reduced-price lunch.
The announcement was part of a broader superintendent report in which Dr. Pearson also described Senate Bill 245, a property tax relief measure he said had passed both chambers and will reduce owner-occupied general-fund levies statewide by about $55 million. “It’s going to be impactful,” Dr. Pearson said. “It is lost revenue.”
Why it matters: both measures, if enacted as described in the report, would cut costs for families while reducing local school-district revenue. Dr. Pearson said Lead-Deadwood’s share of the reduction is not yet calculated and that the district, because it sits outside the state aid formula, will treat the change as lost revenue that must be absorbed or mitigated in future budgets.
What the superintendent said: Dr. Pearson said the district will wait for final signed law before providing specific dollar estimates. He told the board that some budget strategies already under way — aligning staffing to enrollment and identifying efficiencies — should help blunt the immediate impact, and that the district will provide more detail as legislative language and the fiscal mechanics become clear.
Next steps: Dr. Pearson said the district will continue budget work, complete interviews for a business manager and may bring a contract recommendation to a special meeting. He also said administrators will return with options to mitigate revenue loss as part of the regular budgeting timeline.
The board did not take a vote on district budget changes at the meeting; the report served as information and a preview of budget planning that will follow as legislative details are finalized.
