South Dakota Funded Schools at 1.4%, Below Its Own Inflation Mandate. Brookings Cut Three Teachers to Close the Gap. Small Districts Lose Courses, Not Ratios.

The Brookings School District needed to cut roughly $1 million for 2026–27 because of declining enrollment, rising utility and insurance costs, and a state funding increase of 1.4%, well below the inflation-linked level state law mandates, according to the Brookings Register. At its April 13 meeting the board came out of executive session and approved non-renewals that included a middle school teacher, an elementary art instructor and a kindergarten teacher. The board president said reducing staff was better than cutting programs.

The Learning Policy Institute's 2026 scan counted 137 unfilled positions at the start of 2024–25 and 1,072 teachers not fully certified for their assignments, and a prior administrators' survey found 30% of posted teaching positions still open at the end of May.

Our view: Brookings' board said staff cuts were better than program cuts, and in a large district that is often true. In a district the size of Brookings, the difference is thinner than it sounds. An elementary art instructor is the art program at that school. A middle school teacher is the sections she taught. When the Legislature underfunds the formula and the district has already taken the non-instructional reductions, the next cut is a course, and the course is what families compare across the border to Minnesota or Iowa.

What happened

• Brookings cut about $1 million for FY27; drivers: declining enrollment, utilities, insurance, and a 1.4% state increase below the mandated inflation level; the Legislature did not adhere to its mandated funding level.
• Non-renewals approved April 13: a Mickelson Middle School teacher, a Hillcrest art instructor and a Medary kindergarten teacher; the district had an April 15 notification deadline.
• Statewide: LPI 2026: 137 vacancies; SASD survey: 30% of spring postings unfilled by late May in a prior year.

Brookings' board said staff cuts were better than program cuts, and in a large district that is often true.

What it means for districts (analysis)

The district's, the state's and the researchers' laid out the situation. We will say what we think it demands.

A 1.4% increase is a cut after inflation. Salaries, insurance and utilities rise faster than that. Districts absorb the difference in people, and in small districts people are courses.

Out-of-field is the hidden number. 1,072 teachers not fully certified against 137 vacancies says South Dakota's shortage is being absorbed by assignments outside licensure, which small districts do most because they have the fewest teachers to spread.

Hold the course without the position. An art program or a middle school section can be delivered live by a certified educator on the school's schedule with a facilitator in the room, at a fraction of a position, so a 1.4% year does not take the program with the teacher.

Practical considerations for district leaders

1. List every course that depends on one position. In a small district that is most of them; the board should see the list before the next non-renewal vote.
2. Cost out three options per bubble course, facilitator included: retain the position, drop the section, or run it live.
3. Count positions filled out of field; that is where outcomes slip quietly.
4. For each unfilled caseload, record the service minutes owed and the minutes actually delivered, student by student, every week.
5. Plan FY28 assuming the formula is underfunded again.

Where Fullmind fits

In Brookings, an elementary art instructor is the art program and a middle school teacher is her sections. Fullmind, now home to Elevate K-12, keeps the course when a 1.4% year takes the position: a South Dakota-certified educator teaches it live on the school's schedule, a paraprofessional facilitates, and the district pays for a section rather than a salary.

• LIVE Staffing holds a single-teacher course after a non-renewal; Fullmind's remote Alaska brief, the closest evidence for a small-town district, found 5.5 points of test-score gain per additional instructional hour.
• High Dosage Tutoring protects intervention through a year the formula came up short; Yuba City, California scaled from 24 to 194 students in one year.
• SWD Services & IEP Fulfillment delivers IEP minutes where a special education position is open or filled out of field, the condition for 1,072 South Dakota teachers. Fullmind's more than 3,000 educators include the state-certified special educators who deliver its special education instruction.

Run the numbers with us

Send us the courses in your district that depend on one position. We will price each three ways and tell you which a live model would hold if the Legislature underfunds the formula again. Schedule a consultation with Fullmind.

Sources: Brookings Register, "Rising costs, budget gap leads to staff cuts at Brookings School District"; Associated School Boards of South Dakota (SASD survey); Learning Policy Institute 2026 scan; Fullmind Impact & Research. Figures as reported by the cited sources; analysis and recommendations are Fullmind's.