Education funding

Why did Doogard decline to be interviewed? Maybe because his party is anti-education funding?

l3wis October 4, 2010 11Comments

I suppose there could be a couple of scenarios. First off, he is probably leading in the polls, why mess that up? I will admit, I missed this last night, and am waiting for STORMLAND TV to post the video online. But as I understand it from people who watched the program last night, the results of the ZOGBY poll wasn’t really flattering for the GOP in the state.

Five-hundred likely South Dakota voters were recently asked 20 questions on everything from education funding to quality.

On this week’s Inside KELOLAND we’ll share some of the results from the ASBSD – Zogby poll as well as talk with the Associated School Boards of South Dakota’s executive director.

We’ll also get reaction from democratic candidate for governor Scott Heidepriem.
Republican candidate Dennis Daugaard’s campaign declined our invitation to respond to this poll.

And here are the results; (here is detailed video results)

SIOUX FALLS, SD – A poll from the Associated School Boards of South Dakota is gauging voters’ views on education and funding.

ASBSD teamed up with national pollster Zogby and asked 500 likely South Dakota voters 20 different questions dealing with education, including topics such as local control, federal policy and state aid to South Dakota schools.

One question asks voters if more funding equals better education. Nearly 77 percent say yes, while 22 percent say no.

Another question asks voters if they think public school funding in South Dakota should be increased or decreased, or is just about right. Sixty-one percent say it should be increased, nearly 3 percent say it should be decreased, and 30 percent say it’s just about right.

And it seems voters are prepared to put their money where their mouth is. When asked if they’d support a measure to increase sales tax to help fund schools, a slim majority, 55 percent of voters, say they would. But a good number, 36 percent, also say they’d oppose it and nine percent aren’t sure.

ASBSDÂ shared the results of the poll with KELOLANDÂ News before publicly releasing the numbers.

I have believed all along that public education in SD is way underfunded (and I don’t even have any kids) and I have often noted that Republican control of Pierre is the reason why. It seems, SD voters agree. So what are we going to do about it? Well, we can vote in another Republican as governor, or another FAUX Republican and see what happens. Well we know what will happen. Nothing. Or as voters, we can get off our duffs and start a drive to force government to fund education properly. Like I have noted, I have no children, BUT, I believe public education is an investment, and have no problem with paying property taxes to fund it.

Daugaard Education funding Heidepriem

Doogard; King Rounds’ good soldier?

l3wis August 13, 2010 5Comments

On some levels I agree with both candidates on stimulus money education funding;

Heidepriem said it’s a good bill that doesn’t increase the nation’s debt.

“This is an administration that accepted all the revitalization dollars, $250 million to balance the budget over the last three years,” said Heidepriem. “This administration accepted $183 million earmarked for roads and bridges in the state of South Dakota, but when it comes to education this administration says no. Strings attached _ we don’t want it.”

Heidi-Scott is right. We accept Federal dollars all the time, and if this helps education, why refuse the money?

Daugaard said regulations yet to be written could force the state to spend money in ways not fiscally responsible. He asked if school boards would have to fire teachers hired or retained with the money if it’s not available next year.

“I am not willing to say that I will accept that money and spend it without knowing first what strings are attached,” Daugaard said. “I think that’s good government.”

Dennis is also right, what kind of stipulations will the Feds throw at us? I guess the simple thing to do is to just ask? Right? A CC company can’t give you a card without giving you their terms of service. I find it hard to believe that the Feds would be handing out money before they tell us how to use it. Seems Dennis is playing politics with this one.

But this statement shocked me a little (well not really);

He (Doogard) said he doesn’t always agree with the governor but made a commitment when he became lieutenant governor not to publicly disagree with Rounds.

And we wonder why government is broken? Too many yes men.

Education funding SD South Dakotans

South Dakota’s public education system sucks?

l3wis May 11, 2010 2Comments

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.

economy Education funding Governor Rounds Heidepriem Rounds State Funding State Legislature

SD education funding three ring circus

l3wis January 12, 2009 7Comments

Once again Mike Rounds refuses to cut his do nothing-big government programs in Pierre to help fund education;

Democrats have said they want to cut elsewhere in state government to find money for aid to schools. Senate Democratic Leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls said state government in previous years has forced agencies to cut spending by a certain percentage, and that approach could work again.

“It’s so simple it’s amazing to me,” Heidepriem said, adding that he doesn’t believe the Republican governor is willing to control the size of state government.

It doesn’t surprise me one bit. Even when the economy was good, Rounds refused to properly fund education, now he has an excuse and he is going to run with it.

While more than 90 percent of Democrats said they wanted to boost state aid to schools by more than the 3 percent recommended by Rounds, only about a quarter of Republicans said they believed state aid should increase by more than that.

Even if the legislature gets a super-majority to be veto proof on an education bill (which I don’t see) Rounds will still find a way to overstep the legislators, just like he did with the blender pump tax and laptops (how did that work out for yah, Mike). He simply doesn’t like to be told what to do. This will be a true test for the legislators. Will the typical Republican cheerleaders like Krebs cave to their favorite state Republican? Will the Dems do more then mouth off to theÂ media and internetsÂ about how much of a brat Mike is? (seriously, that’s my job, not yours.)

It’s time to show Rounds that he has been extremely ineffective as a governor and quite possibly, unethical (another thing legislators are too chicken-shit to do something about).

POVERTY HAS AN EFFECT ON EDUCATION FUNDING

One has to wonder though, maybe education funding is sufficient in South Dakota. Student test scores are always pretty decent, but high school dropout rates are high. One reason may be the growing problem of poverty in our state.

A couple weeks back a SF School district representative gave a presentation to the city council about poverty in Sioux Falls. Some scary stuff, hereÂ are a few highlights.

– 40% of caucasion children in the SF school district are on FREE or reduced lunches, and that number is as high as 75% in minority community.

– Supt. Dr. Homan doesn’t like to have late starts with bad weather because she wants to make sure these kids get something to eat for breakfast.

Some of the other numbers are hard to swallow to. A lot of these kids also have little winter clothing to wear, and often go hungry on the weekends. The amazing part about it is, it is not discussed much by our local or statewide politicians, it is kind of a ‘silent problem’. After the presentation, one councilor even had this to say, “Thank you for the presentation, but what is this council supposed to do with this information?” And maybe this is the problem. I think politicians think if at least 51% of people in the community are doing OKAY, we can ignore the minority. I find it ironic that Sioux Falls spends more per year on mowing an acre of parkland then they do educating a child. Who knew grass was more important than a decent education? Nice priorities, Huh? I also wonder how much money in education funding is going towards feeding, counseling and healthcare for some of these kids? Something that parents should be responsible for, that is, if they can afford it. The problem isn’t just funding education properly, it is also about creating a business atmosphere in SD that creates more living wage jobs. Government can’t create higher paying jobs, but they can help attract those kinds of businesses.Â Just imagine if we spent half the money we do on tourism for business development, what kind of impact that would have on the state? (of course than Lawrence and Schiller would have to go out and find real clients).

It’s time for our legislators (it’s too late for the governor) to realize the root problem of education funding – Poverty and low wages.

Deb Peters Democrats District 13 economy Education funding Governor Rounds Heidepriem Hunhoff Nesselhuf Road Funding Rounds Vermillion Yankton

The Governor needs to take the wax out of his ears

l3wis December 3, 2008 0Comments

After reading the budget address story in the Gargoyle Leader, I dove into a tiny little article buried on page 9A and not available onlineÂ (that’s where the Liberal media puts their important stories I guess)Â the articleÂ detailed how Dems have been after Marion M. RoundsÂ forÂ three years about limiting the growth of State Government (you know, all those unneeded no-bid contracts to friends and family he has secretly deguised as FTE’s), but as usual, Mike refuses to listen to anyone but his inner greed and arrogance;

For three years, Democrats have tried to hold state government to the 3 percent budget increases allowed schools and counties, and we couldn’t get support,” said Dem Ben Nesselhuf of Vermillion, “If we’d been doing that for three years, maybe we’d have money.”

Democratic Rep. Bernie Hunhuff of Yankton also voiced concern about the property tax increase;

It could sow the seeds for another property tax revolt, and we don’t want that.

Get out the pitchforks and torches I guess.

I think Minority leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls, District 13, where I live, said it best when he called the governor’s budget “Cynical”

I guess I wouldn’t have had a problem with expanding state government if government services have become better, in fact they are either the same or worse since Rounds has taken office. Just look at the vehicle registration fiasco. So where did the millions go? This is about helping friends out, and now that he has broken the bank, he continues his state of denial and promises more cuts to education, salaries and road construction while failing to put his hand out to our new president who vows to ramp up infrastructure and domestic spending. Once again SD Republican leaders have proven the best way to fix problems is to tax and spend instead of making cuts.

Why did Doogard decline to be interviewed? Maybe because his party is anti-education funding?

Doogard; King Rounds’ good soldier?

South Dakota’s public education system sucks?

SD education funding three ring circus

The Governor needs to take the wax out of his ears

You Missed

UPDATE II: Sioux Falls City Councilor could be facing ethics violations after tonight’s vote on Tre Ministries project

UPDATE: City Council Agenda (Dec 2-3)

Seems we are a we bit behind on snow plowing

Libertyland TIF should go to a vote of the entire state!