Pierre School District, South Dakota, elections

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Pierre School District
District details
School board members: 5
Students: 2,762 (2022-2023)
Schools: 5 (2022-2023)
Website: Link

Pierre School District is a school district in South Dakota (Hughes County). During the 2023 school year, 2,762 students attended one of the district's five schools.

This page provides information regarding school board members, election rules, finances, academics, policies, and more details about the district.

Jump to a section:

Elections School board Location Budget Academic performance Students Staff Schools

Elections

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• 2023

Per our coverage scope, Ballotpedia does not provide election results for this particular race. Check your city or county government's election website for vote totals.

Pierre School District 32-2

General election

General election for Pierre School District 32-2

Incumbent Dan Cronin, Roger Livermont, and Jason Muldoon ran in the general election for Pierre School District 32-2 on June 6, 2023.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Dan Cronin (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Roger Livermont (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Jason Muldoon (Nonpartisan)

---

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Election rules

View election rules

 

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board elections in South Dakota must be held in each district between the second Tuesday in April and the third Tuesday in June every year. The school district board determines the election date for the district. School districts can but are not required to consolidate their elections with municipal elections on one of three dates: the second Tuesday in April, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June, or the third Tuesday in June. In 2023, 52% of districts scheduled their elections for the second Tuesday in April, 22% of districts scheduled their elections for the Tuesday after the first Monday in June, and 20% of districts scheduled their elections for the third Tuesday in June. The remaining 6% had unknown 2023 election date schedules or scheduled their elections for different unconsolidated dates.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-7-10

Election system

School board members in South Dakota are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-7-10

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in South Dakota are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. South Dakota Statute Section 13-7-13 concerning the ballots for school district elections states, "No party affiliation may appear on the ballot and the names of the candidates for the respective vacancies shall be printed on the ballot."

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-7-13

Winning an election

The candidate or candidates who receive the most votes are elected to the open seat or seats that are up for election.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-7-10

Term length and staggering

School board members have three-year terms. Initial terms for school board members of newly formed districts or school board member seats that were newly added to increase the total number of board members are set to be one, two, or three years to stagger elections.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-8-2

As close to one-third of school board seats as possible are up for regular election every year.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-7-10

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School board members can be elected at large, by representation area (sub-district), or a combination of the two. School board members are elected at large by default, but school boards or voters through a ballot measure can establish school board representation areas. As of 2022, 143 districts (96%) elected all of their school board members at large, four districts (3%) elected all of their school board members from sub-districts, and two districts (1%) used a combination of the two.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-8-7

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

The candidate filing deadline for school board candidates is 39 days before the election unless the election is consolidated with a municipal election and the municipal election filing period dates are used.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-7-6

Newly elected school board members officially take office at the school board's annual meeting, which is held by default on the second Monday of July. The school board may set a different date for its annual meeting.

See law: South Dakota Statute section 13-8-10

 

About the district

School board

The Pierre School District consists of five members serving three-year terms. To find information about school board meetings, click here.

List of school board members

Name	Year assumed office	Year term ends
Joan Adam
Dan Cronin
Randy Hartmann
Dennis James
Jess Lewis

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District map

School district map

Overlapping state house districts

Pierre School District

Office Name	Current Officeholder	Party	% School District Covered	% Other District Covered
South Dakota House of Representatives District 24	Will Mortenson	Republican Party	100%	6%
South Dakota House of Representatives District 24	Mike Weisgram	Republican Party	100%	6%

The table was limited to the lower chamber because it provides the most granularity. State house districts tend to be more numerous and therefore smaller than state senate or U.S. House districts. This provides an impression of the partisan affiliations in the area.

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Revenue
• Expenditures

Revenue, 2020-2021

SOURCE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Federal:	$6,357,000	$2,294	19%
Local:	$14,205,000	$5,126	43%
State:	$12,800,000	$4,619	38%
Total:	$33,362,000	$12,040

Expenditures, 2020-2021

TYPE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Total Expenditures:	$29,685,000	$10,712
Total Current Expenditures:	$27,434,000	$9,900
Instructional Expenditures:	$17,351,000	$6,261	58%
Student and Staff Support:	$2,789,000	$1,006	9%
Administration:	$2,493,000	$899	8%
Operations, Food Service, Other:	$4,801,000	$1,732	16%
Total Capital Outlay:	$1,667,000	$601
Construction:	$1,495,000	$539
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other:	$28,000	$10
Interest on Debt:	$152,000	$54

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements. To protect student privacy, percentages are reported as ranges for groups of 300 students or fewer. If five or fewer students were included in a data set, the data will display as "PS."

• Mathematics
• Reading/language arts
• Graduation rates

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2020-2021	47	40-59	<50	30-34	15-19	40-44	56
2018-2019	53	>=50	PS	30-34	20-24	45-49	62
2017-2018	56	<50	<50	35-39	15-19	55-59	65
2016-2017	51	<50	>=50	40-44	15-19	50-54	58
2015-2016	47	>=50	<50	30-39	15-19	45-49	53
2014-2015	47	>=50	<50	30-39	15-19	45-49	53
2013-2014	<50	PS			PS		PS
2012-2013	78	>=50	PS	>=90	40-44	70-79	85
2011-2012	81	>=50	>=50	80-89	45-49	80-89	88
2010-2011	80	60-79	<50	60-79	50-54	>=80	86

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2020-2021	54	40-59	>=50	35-39	25-29	50-54	61
2018-2019	58	<50	PS	40-44	25-29	55-59	66
2017-2018	57	<50	<50	45-49	25-29	55-59	64
2016-2017	52	>=50	<50	40-44	20-24	50-54	59
2015-2016	52	>=50	>=50	50-59	20-24	45-49	58
2014-2015	53	>=50	<50	40-49	25-29	60-64	58
2013-2014	<50	PS			PS		PS
2012-2013	77	>=50	PS	70-79	50-54	70-79	83
2011-2012	78	>=50	>=50	80-89	45-49	80-89	84
2010-2011	79	>=80	>=50	>=80	50-54	60-79	85

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2019-2020	90	PS		>=50	60-79	>=50	>=95
2018-2019	80-84	PS	PS	>=50	<50	>=50	85-89
2017-2018	80-84	PS		>=50	21-39	>=50	85-89
2016-2017	85-89	PS	PS	PS	40-59	PS	90-94
2015-2016	85	PS	PS	>=50	40-59	PS	90-94
2014-2015	85-89	PS		PS	>=50	>=50	85-89
2013-2014	85-89	PS		PS	40-59	>=50	90-94
2012-2013	85-89		PS	PS	60-79	PS	90-94
2011-2012	80-84	PS	PS	PS	21-39	PS	85-89
2010-2011	80-84	PS	PS	PS	21-39	PS	85-89

Students

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Enrollment
• Demographics

Year	Enrollment	Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023	2,762	-1.4
2021-2022	2,802	1.1
2020-2021	2,771	-0.3
2019-2020	2,779	4.2
2018-2019	2,661	-1.7
2017-2018	2,706	1.2
2016-2017	2,673	0.8
2015-2016	2,651	0.4
2014-2015	2,641	0.4
2013-2014	2,630	0.6
2012-2013	2,614	4.2
2011-2012	2,503	-3.0
2010-2011	2,578	1.9
2009-2010	2,528	-6.1
2008-2009	2,681	4.8
2007-2008	2,551	1.1
2006-2007	2,523	-0.9
2005-2006	2,545	-3.7
2004-2005	2,638	-1.2
2003-2004	2,670	-7.3
2002-2003	2,864	2.8
2001-2002	2,784	0.8
2000-2001	2,763	-2.0
1999-2000	2,818	0.0

Racial Demographics, 2022-2023

RACE	Pierre School District (%)	South Dakota K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native	15.4	10.5
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander	1.0	1.6
Black	0.6	3.3
Hispanic	4.7	8.0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	0.0	0.1
Two or More Races	11.6	5.8
White	66.7	70.9

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Staff

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Teachers
• Administrators
• Other staff

As of the 2022-2023 school year, Pierre School District had 173.04 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 15.96.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten:	2.00
Kindergarten:	10.00
Elementary:	98.36
Secondary:	44.40
Total:	173.04

Pierre School District employed 8.50 district administrators and 8.00 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators:	8.50
District Administrative Support:	7.00
School Administrators:	8.00
School Administrative Support:	9.00

Other staff, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides:	78.50
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors:	0.50
Total Guidance Counselors:	7.00
Elementary Guidance Counselors:	0.00
Secondary Guidance Counselors:	0.00
Librarians/Media Specialists:	1.58
Library/Media Support:	0.00
Student Support Services:	21.00
Other Support Services:	69.10

Schools

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

The Pierre School District operates five schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

List of schools

SCHOOL NAME	NUMBER OF STUDENTS	GRADES
Buchanan Elementary - 03	418	KG-5
Georgia Morse Middle School - 02	684	6-8
Jefferson Elementary - 06	430	KG-5
Kennedy Elementary - 08	388	KG-5
T F Riggs High School - 01	842	9-12

About school boards

Education legislation in South Dakota

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

School Boards	Education Policy	Local Politics	South Dakota
List of school districts in South Dakota South Dakota school board elections, 2025 School board elections, 2025 School board recalls School board authority in South Dakota	South Dakota Department of Education Public education in South Dakota	Municipal government Local courts Local ballot measures Recalls	South Dakota South Dakota elections, 2025 South Dakota State Legislature South Dakota state executive offices

External links

Office website

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