West Central Constituents Hope to Have Their Say in Dispute

The people have prepared their answer to the proposed land swap between the West Central and Sioux Falls School Districts.

A petition drive organized by the citizen group “Save Our Future” will submit signatures on Thursday and the organization is confident about a forthcoming vote. The necessary number of valid signings is 216 and over 340 have been collected so far.

One of the group’s organizers Lisa Engels says the goal of the effort is simple. “They call for a vote on the agreement that the Sioux Falls School District and the West Central School District made on a revenue sharing agreement.” If the petition drive succeeds, then a halt will come to the boundary change proposed in the Cherry Lake Addition at 12th Street and Ellis Road.

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This area has the current value of approximately $6.5 million with a potential value eventually mushrooming to around $100 million. Thus West Central’s School Board made the agreement and held a public meeting to discuss the action on December 10, 2014.

Engels says action from the South Dakota Legislature has been working to protect smaller school districts from being overrun by larger districts. “Our local legislators really worked hard to change boundary laws which went into effect on July 1. We were hopeful that things would work out that this development would be impacted by that and we wouldn’t have to give up the $100 million development. Our School Board listened to the legal arguments and they were concerned that we would be the first ones to test this law.” As a result Engels feels that the Board chose the safer route to enter into the agreement.

Once petitions are verified, an election would most likely be held in April or May of 2015.

To hear the “Save Our Future” perspective listen at the link below.