The House Appropriations committee Monday decided to amend Fiscal Year 13’s budget. Earlier this year, Governor Dennis Daugaard’s budget proposal included about $16 million left on the bottom line for legislators to decide where the money should go. The amendment splits almost $11 million between K-12 education and Medicaid, and gives the Board of Regents just over $3 million to fill its health insurance hole. Representative Susan Wismer says this is just the House Appropriations recommendation, and there’s still many steps to get through before the budget is finalized.
“Those were three exciting things for me to see as education and Medicaid advocate to know that at least we can look forward to that much money and then that’s a separate question from what might we be able to do with the extra funds yet in FY14. I’ve got high hopes, although maybe in the end I’ll be frustrated because the fact that they’re looking at one-time money may mean that other extra funds in FY14 that I would like to see education and Medicaid get in an ongoing basis, they may not,” Wismer says.
Along with the $16 million from FY13, there’s an additional $10 million left over from Daugaard’s proposal for next year.