Attempt to Call Special Session of Legislature to Address Education Funding Fails

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — An attempt by Black Hills lawmakers to call a special session of the South Dakota Legislature to address education funding has failed.

The group sent letters asking all 105 state lawmakers if they favored a special session. The Rapid City Journal reports only 13 voted yes. The group would have needed a two-thirds majority to call a special session.

Republican Rep. Elizabeth May, of Kyle, spearheaded the unsuccessful effort. She's been critical of a task force studying South Dakota's education funding for excluding the costs of the state's adoption of the Common Core standards from discussions.

May says she still thinks there is support for a special session. But she says it's now up to the people of South Dakota to put pressure on their legislators to hold one.

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