Sioux Falls, South Dakota – South Dakota Public Broadcasting is figuring out how to move forward without federal funding, which accounts for more than 20% of its budget. This comes after President Trump signed legislation this week that will cut one billion dollars from public broadcasting as a whole.
The South Dakota Board of Directors for Educational Telecommunications met Friday to discuss how federal cuts will affect SDPB.
Shortly after the meeting began, the board held a private session for more than an hour to discuss which local programs would be reduced.
“We’re really hoping to lay that out and kind of get the necessary approvals and plan in place over the next couple of weeks so that we can let the public know what the pain looks like,” South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s executive director, Julie Overgaard, said.
Over the past few days, there has been a scramble to find a solution to close the more than $2 million gap.
“We are working as quickly as possible to reinvigorate how we deliver, and then to ensure that where we can, we can manage those dollars,” Kay Jorgensen, chair of the educational telecommunications board, explained.
Overgaard predicts that next year’s state budget season will be difficult due to other organizations receiving reduced federal funds, but he is hopeful that it will not add to the money already lost.
“They are not obviously going to come and plug a $2.3 million hole, but I didn’t sense there was any desire to pile on,” Overgaard told the newspaper.
Overgaard wants viewers to know that SDPB will continue even without federal assistance.
“I feel really grateful that we’re still going to survive this, even if we look a little bit different,” Overgaard told the newspaper.
SDPB will reveal which specific programs and local content it will reduce in mid-August. We’ll provide updates on the air and online as soon as the information is available.
