Measure requiring schools to accept cash for event tickets heads to Rhoden's desk

Bill passes by narrow margin on third attempt

(Sioux Falls Live)

PIERRE — Public schools across the state will soon have to accept cash as ticket payments for activities such as sporting events and concerts.

The South Dakota State House on Thursday sent Senate Bill 219 to the desk of Gov. Larry Rhoden, requiring K-12 schools to accept hard currency at events associated with their institutions.

The measure came as a result of the Sioux Falls School District and others in the region implementing a policy last year forbidding the acceptance of cash at school-sponsored events. Rep. John Sjaarda of Valley Springs, the House co-sponsor of SB 219, made his third run at the topic this session when he presented the measure to the full House on Thursday afternoon. Similar, but broader proposals in the form of House Bill 1017 and House Bill 1048 failed before they could make it to the Senate.

But Sjaarda’s Senate colleague Greg Blanc of Rapid City brought his own skinnier measure to Pierre. Sjaarda noted that the new bill would not apply to Board of Regents institutions, state technical schools or third-party vendors at public school events. Rather, it would be aimed at just the public schools themselves.

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