South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

SF School District

School Funding SF School District Super Precints

Super Precints do not work. C’mon already.

l3wis 9Comments

SouthDaCola-53-voter-turnout

How many times does this stupid f’ing experiment have to fail before the city and the school district wakeup and go, “Guess it doesn’t work.”

Only one of every 42 registered voters cast a ballot for the incumbent in Tuesday’s Sioux Falls School Board election, but he cruised to a second term.

 

Darin Daby will be joined on the board by newcomer Kate Parker, who earned votes from every 43rd registered voter. The ratio for the losing candidate, Mike Deitschman, was one in 63.

I will admit, I did not vote. Which is rare for me. But like I have said before, my property taxes are low and I don’t have any kids. I also believe public education is one of the wisest uses of tax money. I didn’t really like any of the candidates either. One was a rubberstamper, one co-owns a family business that is anti-union and anti-worker rights and one is a teabagger defender. So no votes from me. I also don’t know where my super precint is, I usually just absentee vote at the courthouse.

The school district used 23 super precincts, so most voters had a different voting place compared to the 2008 general election. Deitschman said he had supporters calling him to say they couldn’t find their polling place.

Surprise! Surprise!

Daby called the turnout “disappointing” and said he’s willing to listen to ideas on how to raise public interest.

Well Daby, you are the president of the school board, why not suggest getting rid of super precints? That would be a start.

We have super precints to aproximately save $16,000 per election, but the city has no problem with paying a consultant $50,000 to tell us what a historical window looks like. Go figure.* There should never be a pricetag on one of greatest rights in a democracy. It’s foolish, petty and UnAmerican to limit voters. But of course we live in a city that violates many constitutional rights, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

*(BTW- I know that the city didn’t pay for this election, but have used super precints in the past with similiar results).

SF School District

Looks like some arm twisting was going on

l3wis 1Comments

ouch-wrestling

Politics as usual in Sux Falls. After the big bad school board told the Event Center task force to pony up before they can have Howard Wood, it seems in just a few short days they are having a change of tune.

The Sioux Falls School Board’s offer last week to sell Howard Wood Field to make room for a new arena came with a high price but no deadline.

 

Roman Holiday film

The board said it will need at least $15 million from the city or donors to build a new track and football field elsewhere; if that doesn’t happen, it will go ahead with a $6.3 million plan to renovate the existing field.

 

If all goes as expected, it will be another 18 months before the board has an answer. But even as the 52-year-old field increasingly shows its age, board members say they are in no hurry to renovate.

“We would hate to make investments and then a few years down the road learn that we’re not going to use the facility,” Doug Morrison said.

Kind of sounds like a few board members got some calls over the weekend?

“Yeah, Doug? Woster here. Um, word on the street is that you and the rest of the school board members that decided to not let us have Howard Wood are now being labeled as anti-growth and anti-progress. You know, it’s not me saying those things, I’m just hearing it from a lot of ‘citizens’. Not sure what you can do, but I sure wouldn’t want to be in the same boat as those tax petitioners. Know what I’m saying?”

Funny how things go in this town.

School Funding SF School District

The School Board figured it out, now will the City Council

l3wis 0Comments

The school baord decides to make budgetary cuts during a recession. Jinkies, what a concept!

Much of the $585,000 in spending cuts for next year will come from combining or cutting bus routes.

Get on your bikes rugrats and pedal your way to school, like I had to, uphill both ways in a blizzard.

Homan said she believes in the stability bus, as well as other programs not being funded next year, but “I can’t find something else to trade it out for.”

As you know, I’m not a big fan of Pam ‘No Buck’ Homan, but will admit she did what she was supposed to do in this situation. When money is tight, you pick something you can do without, just like the rest of us have to. When is the city council gonna figure that out?

Board president Darin Daby said the decision to stop funding the bus “came down to a prioritization which is not any fun at all.”

Yeah, no fun at all, because we would rather be making decisions on how to raise taxes or what TV station to watch during a council meeting.

SF School District

Need to kill some time? Run for the Sioux Falls School Board

l3wis 21Comments

paint_drying

This race looks about as exciting as watching paint dry;

Three candidates will vie for two seats on the Sioux Falls School Board during next month’s election.

 

Board President Darin Daby is seeking re-election to a second term May 12.

 

“I think I’ve learned a bunch over the last three years, and think I can offer even more over the next three years,” said Daby, a 44-year-old private banker at U.S. Bank.

Parker, 35, works as a research specialist for the Department of Health. She has an undergraduate degree in education and a graduate school degree in public administration.

Married with two sons, ages 4 and 1, Parker has a particular interest in early childhood education.

 

“I think that’s going to be very important down the road,” she said. “I certainly think it’s something we as a community need to strive for.”

Deitschman, 39, is a senior paramedic at Rural/Metro Ambulance and a substitute teacher for the district.

 

He is married with three children: a high school graduate and one each in middle and elementary school. He said his varied experiences with the district would benefit the school board.

If I voted today, I would pick Daby and Deitschman. Hopefully more people would throw their hat in the ring.

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