BROOKINGS – The Brookings School Board has decided to postpone work on establishing a Brookings School District foundation in order to first take the results of the April 10 opt out vote into account.

The Brookings School Board has considered establishing a foundation off and on through the years, but as board member Steve Bayer recalled, there wasn’t much interest in the topic the last time it had been discussed years ago.

But the school district could benefit from the flexibility and opportunities that come with setting up a school foundation, according to a presentation this week by BSD Superintendent Klint Willert and Rich Helsper of Helsper, McCarty & Rasmussen Law Firm.

According to Helsper, a BSD Foundation would have a scholarship mission, but the mission would be broad enough in scope that if a unique piece of equipment was needed somewhere in the district, the foundation could assist in purchasing it.

Referencing the Brookings Health System Foundation, Helsper said, “It’s no different than the Health System. If there is a unique piece of equipment that somebody wants to leave funds for, that’s a great example” of the assistance foundations can provide.

Foundations can also provide grants. For the school district, that could take the form of things such as classroom innovation grants.

It also can allow for more aggressive investing than what the school district does, and it can serve as a kind of informal marketing branch for the school district as it seeks donations.  

The process is a relatively simple, straightforward one, requiring filing paperwork with both the South Dakota secretary of state’s office and the Internal Revenue Service to set up the foundation and have donations made to the nonprofit entity tax deductible.

Gaining that tax deductibility status from the IRS can take a few months of waiting to hear back and sometimes responding to questions they have before they make their final decision.

A BSD Foundation would be independent from the school board, with its own governing board and an executive director who would be paid by the foundation.

Determinations such as the size of the foundation’s board – Helsper recommended no more than nine – aren’t yet made.

“I don’t know the downside to creating the foundation,” Helsper said. “I think it’s a great vehicle.”

It’s not uncommon for school districts of similar size to have foundations, either; it was pointed out that Madison Central has a foundation of its own, which Willert described as “really robust and successful.”

He added that it is becoming more common for school districts to do this, too: “A lot of that has to do with creating an opportunity for people to give back and be structured in a formal way.”

Some initial seed money from the district’s general fund would be needed. The same was also true for the Brookings Health System Foundation, Helsper said.

“We need that seed money to get it going, to get it lofted, and then eventually, that’s something that could be transitioned out,” Willert said.

Establishing a foundation and transferring some funds before knowing the results of the April 10 opt out vote was a sticking point to members of the school board, motivating them to take a more cautious approach by pausing work on setting up a foundation until after the opt out vote takes place.

As Bayer remarked, “If that’s a no-vote, I don’t see where those funds are coming from to hire an executive director and move forward with this.”

With other priorities in place even if the opt out is approved, it came down to the timing with the opt out vote than support of the concept itself.

“Everybody likes the idea and knows it can bring more benefits to us in the long term,” School Board President Randy Grimsley said, “but given the present timeline, let’s just put a pin in it and come back, maybe revisit it at … the second April school board meeting after we get the election results and don’t lose too much time if we are able to proceed if the opt out passes.”

Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.