Like this is a surprise;
South Dakota scored poorly in almost every category during the first round of competitive grants, getting poor marks in such areas as lacking a data system that ties test scores to teacher evaluations and failing to turn around the state’s worst schools.
When we choose to spend less and less on public education every year and have one of the highest dropout rates in the nation why do we sit around and scratch our heads and wonder why we fail at things like this? Is it because our state legislature is poorly educated? Maybe.
I would have to agree that the “kids” in Pierre are poorly educated. They have led the state to the bottom of just about every category related to education and are proud of it. What is ironic, is that a good portion of the ethanol plants got tax breaks from the state when they were built. Who did that benefit? The ag community. Put in a funding request which would require tax dollars from their pocket for education and it will go down in flames big time. The young kids in the state are not dumb and see what is going here, which does not bode well for the future.
This is not surprising at all, and one of the reasons why non-religious home schooling is becoming more prevalent.
The teachers and other staff are doing their best, they just don’t have the resources or commitment to standards from the legislature. The bills I’ve been involved with turned out to be “well, the federal standards are ‘good enough'” – and in one case the legislature passed a good bill for education, only to have Gov. Rounds veto it.
Makes moving my family to another state more appealing every day.