What do you do if you don’t like the educational funding task force’s focus? If you’re Elizabeth May and Phil Jensen, you demand a special session, and ominously warn legislators they’ll be on a list!
The legislators — state Sen. Phil Jensen and state Reps. Elizabeth May, Lance Russell, Lynne DiSanto, Chip Campbell and Sam Marty — are criticizing a Blue Ribbon Task Force appointed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard to help resolve the funding crisis that is keeping teacher salaries low.
At a press conference Thursday in Rapid City, the six said they have been shut out of the task force’s deliberations because their priority is eliminating Common Core from South Dakota education standards. Russell also used the conference to propose possible solutions to the fiscal squeeze.
And…
The group wants a special legislative session to discuss Common Core, which South Dakota adopted in 2010. Common Core outlines specific standards in English language arts, math, history and social studies, science and technical subjects.
And…
May said the group is also working to create a website on which South Dakota residents can see how their representatives voted on the issue.
“We are not any less elected than the members of the Blue Ribbon Task Force,” May said. “Legislators are elected to lead, and we don’t agree with the way the Blue Ribbon Task Force was set up.”
Ugh. Are they still perseverating on common core not being part of a study on funding and salaries? Really?
Did they not read the group’s mission statement? According to the Blue Ribbon Task Force’s website:
This task-force will reevaluate the current funding formula, collect and analyze data, engage with stakeholders, and seek public input. The task-force will then make recommendations to the 2016 State Legislature for reform.
We need to understand where teacher shortages are occurring and what can be done to address them. We need to ask why 12 states can spend less per student than South Dakota, yet pay their teachers more. We need to ask why, even as we hear growing concerns about teacher salaries, many schools’ reserve funds are increasing. These questions need to be answered with hard data, not anecdotes or opinion surveys.
The task force is focused on funding and teacher pay. Not curriculum standards that are already argued about ad nauseum already during session.
And who cares if they’re going to have a list of who votes on a special session? I’d be watching it to see who wants to waste taxpayer dollars on a special session.
As a parent with 4 kids left to be educated in the K-12 system, my vote is to let the task force do it’s job.
And really, what’s the hurry? There will be plenty of time to review the task force’s results AND fight about common core next January.
It’s probably just some posturing. That group of legislators is passionate about the issue and they make some very good arguments. They most likely know a special session won’t happen but calling for one now still sets the tone and keeps common core in a negative light. They’re doing a good job fighting common core.
posturing? These nuts, and Lance R. (who’s not a nut) probably think this will lead to a special session. May, DiSanto, they think they matter.
These are exactly the whack jobs I would not want determining the curriculum for a pre- school let alone K-12. None of them have he brains to pour the piss out of a boot even with the instructions written on the heel.
Russell is someone I am passionate about supporting because he’s a smart cookie even if he errs by hanging out with these yahoos and moat likely tells them to do this stupid stuff.
Sam Marty is another good one who should maybe back off a little from his sister – May.
DiSanto as a moron. She’s a bad legislator who has blind ambition and won’t go anywhere because she threw her entire caucus under the bus.
May has good intentions but she says things that lose her more support than she will ever gain.
I remember when DiSanto was torn apart on reality TV – http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/remodeled/episode-2-season-1/modeling-school-or-modeling-agency/337924/?video=9825371. – which showed her as either using her students, or a clueless moron. I’m not sure what was less flattering.
Exactly. Thank you for sharing this. She is not what she says she is. If you are in Rapid City you know. This act that she has is very similar to Gordon Howie’s faux religious fundraising act.
Hands down the worst legislator in Pierre in the past 10 years.
I like Russell and Marty. May is ok but a little out there but DiSanto is disingenuous.
i don’t think russell is a rocket designer by any means, probably the smartest in the gang of six i guess. this event was a win-win for the anti-common core group; first, they would wreck this task force effort so that energy could be fully turned toward eradicating common core. second, the energy wouldn’t be used to mess with the current school funding plan, which obviously these six think is adequate or they’d let the task force do their assigned work. they had nothing to lose by grandstanding on this.
They don’t help their cause with other legislators who are rolling their eyes.
I thought there was something along the lines of, if the state adopted the CCCS, we would get more federal money, but we didn’t get the money. So the state got suckered?
Common Core is only for math and English. It has nothing to do with standards in history, science, social studies, arts or technical subjects. I wonder if that was the RCJ’s mistake or if they got that misinformation from these legislators.
One of the non-legislators that attended the presser posted the Rapid City Journal article on Facebook this morning with this comment:
The mention of Common Core was in the context of putting EVERYTHING on the table, like the Governor said should be done, and including ALL the representatives of the people in the decisions that address teacher pay and education costs. The reporter ignored that fact, omitted any mention of the email from the Governor’s office, made no mention of the fact that the Property Tax Reduction Fund is defunct, and allowed Jackie Sly to dissemble. Other than that, it was a great article.
Then why were there meetings this summer about cc standards for science, social science, and fine arts? Oh, that’s right. In order to dodge further criticism, they were called contents standards in the papers. That way they flew under radar.
They were called content standards because that’s what they are. The State Board of Education reviews and updates all of the standards on a regular basis. The recent standards you are referring to were not developed by the same group that developed Common Core. The group that developed Common Core is not making standards for any other content area except math and English.
Guess you will find out the hard way when your children or grandchildren start learning about all of the sex terms throughout grade school. I do not personally think it is cool to have junior high kids start learning about anal sex because the “push” is to have them think this is a normal life style.
Never a contrary article on here about the establishment moderates raising taxes, increasing government, killing pro-life bills, BUT plenty articles attacking any conservative (read actual limited-government Republicans) opposing establishment moderate “Republicans” and plenty ink going after them.
Let’s not forget that Common Core is OPPOSED as an official Republican position. Why? Because Common Core represents everything that actual Republicans oppose. More govt control/involvement in education which takes away parental local control of THEIR childrens’ (not govt’s children!) education.
CCSS is a massive drain on state education funds. It SHOULD be forefront of examination and “Republicans” voting like liberals should be highlighted for betraing Republicanism.
I do think we should call a halt to this headlong rush towards CC . I also believe it is a separate issue than the Blue Ribbon study & should be treated as such .
How in the world is it a separate issue?! Isn’t this panel supposed to be taking a thorough look at what is affecting our education funding? Does the establishment not spend a lot of money on CCSS? Has it not seriously affected education in SD since it was enacted?
So look at everything but not the left’s (moderate “Republicans'”) govt control cow?
Whatever Stace.
Anonymous,
At most the ongoing cost are .001% of the cost of education because the State Constitution requires state standards and since the State pays half the costs it is prudent to measure those standards.
Since nobody had yet pointed out an errant standard, if we are to improve them, we need specifics. Look forward to hearing yours.
DiSanto is the worst legislator in Pierre.
There are good far right legislators like Russell, Kaiser, Jenna Haggar, Brock Greenfield and Ernie Otten and then there are legislators like Lynne Disanto who are completely disingenuous and all about tearing others down for their own political gain.
The tear-down of Lynn DiSanto is so transparent. She is clearly a threat to the RINO wing of the party.
GO GET ‘EM, LYNN!!!
Is that you Third Place Stace?
I suspect she will lose in 2016.
DiSanto is only a threat to the collective IQ of the statehouse. It shouldn’t be brought down that much.
She publicly condemned her entire group of colleagues because she disagreed with them. What legislator with intelligence does that?
As far as I’m concerned she is not worth the time of day and anything she is associated with should be dismissed as shameless self promoting not worth the legislatures time. She put herself on the crazy train. She can’t be trusted to work with others in a meaningful way. Ignore her. No one listens when she speaks.
DiSanto goes full Stace Nelson on colleagues:
http://dakotawarcollege.com/new-legislator-poking-at-colleagues-as-session-ends/
“She put herself on the crazy train”
Crazy train as in Hubbel, Howie, Volesky, Devon, Lori Staci, Kathy Scott, Bosowrth, Haber, Gaddy and the others? Who is driving the train?
That is the question.
I really don’t believe any of the people you named are ‘bad’ people. They are just misguided.
Not.
Misguided for sure.
Can you please explain crazy train? Jut because we are critical thinkers and anti-establishment, doesn’t make one crazy does it?
Tara, I like you but if you can’t see the crazy in the Hubbel, Bosworth, DiSanto club it isn’t possible to explain it any clearer and you have OD’d on the BS they serve and have blinders on.
You have first hand knowledge of the crazies on the train.
“Republicans” voting to raise taxes, increase fees, create more govt, increase spending, opposing gun rights bills, killing pro-life bills, supporting CCSS? How is that not voting like Democrats as that is how the Democrats in fact voted on all these bills.
Disanto speaking the truth doesn’t impugn her legislative colleagues, their own voting records do.
The fact that she disagrees with some legislators doesn’t make her pure and them bad. It makes her self righteous and dumb and unable to be a leader who gets the job done.
She is flat out dumb. She listens to Gordon Howie and Lora Hubbel.
Dumb? Representatives are suppose to listen to everyone. The rich, the poor, young, seasoned and even the tin foil hat people. Their opinion is no more and no less important than anyone else’s. Of course they have to temper those opinions with facts.
Just because someone is crazy doesn’t mean they don’t deserve not to be represented in the legislature.
I’m with ya MC on that. Last thing I’d call Lizz May ever is dumb. I’d call her gutsy, classy, conservative and steering hard right politicly in all that she does. Well; everything except Granny’s fishing license maybe.
The focus in a state that retains less than 10% of it’s college graduates needs to be on raising teacher pay. This issue is foremost and clearly shows the fundamental flaw with conservative politicians. How to overcome selfishness in the face of poor retention.
Porter,
We retain significantly more than 10% of our college graduates. In fact, it is roughly 80% which is comparable to all the states in our region. Probably more important is we have been having a net migration of college graduates into South Dakota for at least a decade, maybe longer.
So my question is simple because you 10% assertion is so far from reality.
Are you just ignorant, stupid, or intentionally being deceptive?*
*By the way, A person with a modicum of intelligence would look at 10% and say “that can’t be right” and do further investigation. At the same time your bias against everything from the state you were raised explains why you might assert something that feeds your bias making you ignorant. The deceptive part only applies if you aren’t blinded by bias and stupid.
Not to mention the simple logic that were we exporting 90% of our college graduates, it would mean an incredible demand for our graduates exists, which kinda counters the whole lousy education argument, doesn’t it?
Jones, that was too easy to bag. You can’t count that one as a win. Porter is usually sharper than that, must have had a bad Kool-aid day.
The Common Core discussion is not trivial, but it’s also not a part of the funding question. They are so clearly so not related. Attempting to link them diminishes their argument.
The CCC issue is a lot more about where we find ourselves as a small normal state, locked between two coasts of crazies, with the dominant populations to market to. CCC is a lot more about concerns about implantation of standards than the standards themselves, and the strange methodology pushed by the “smart” folks from elsewhere.
Education funding is about….we don’t pay enough in the market place to buy a scarce resource, and what are we going to do about it. Hopefully we can keep the eye on the ball (like Dozier did last night)
Thank you rep Schoenbeck for bringing your intellect to the chamber.
I don’t support common core but there is a better way to go about this than grandstanding and pointing fingers at those who do support common core.
Roger Hunt Jim Bolin and Dan Kaiser brought a civilized discussion to the legislature about stopping common core. I believe people respectfully listened to them. I would look to them for how to handle this issue before DiSanto and May.
In fact those 3 should tell these 4 to sit down and stop making common core opponents look like flakes.
I understand Rep. May and some other legislators are frustrated their efforts to turn back Common Core has resulted in defeat at every turn. Common Core will be starting it’s sixth year in South Dakota schools this fall. If opponents can wait one more year, the normal seven-year review cycle will kick in and they will likely have their greatest realistic opportunity to have input into new standards developed by and for South Dakotans.
In regard to funding, I agree with Rep. Schoenbeck — Common Core is an entirely different animal than teacher funding. For years, South Dakota teacher pay has ranked last in the nation. I’m not proud of that. The Blue Ribbon Task Force is about moving us out of the cellar.
I understand Rep. May and some others don’t like the composition of legislators the Governor asked to serve on the task force, The relevant point is it’s the Governor’s task force to appoint. The legislature could have opted to create its own alternative task force, but did not. It’s also relevant that the people serving are legislative leaders. Those folks were elected by their fellow legislators to lead us — and perhaps most importantly, they are the legislators with the skills and/or experience most likely to lead the full legislature to change.
I asked to serve on the task force – I bring a background of serving on school board – but my request wasn’t granted. I’m okay with that. I’ve served just one term in the legislature – I’m not in leadership – but if the good people of my district believe I’ve done a good enough job to send me back, perhaps I one day may have an opportunity to make a difference in a leadership role. For now I am happy to contribute as one of 105 legislators.
My goal is to focus on the task at hand and not be distracted with peripheral competing messages.
And that; Fred, is the proper class of intellect every person thinking about a Leadership position should write with publicly.
The only thing Lee and Fred have wrong is that Common Core does have a place and debate to be had on funding. If it is gone how much in federal funds would be lost? It should be a small portion of the task forces dialogue. Not the standards but the funding mechanisms.
Liberty Dick,
I could be wholly wrong on this because I’ve never considered any federal funds as a reason for or against CC. That said, here is what I think is the situation:
I think because No Child Left Behind is on its last legs, CC as a substitute by waiver for NCLB becomes moot and there is no substantial loss of federal funds. However, in order to get rid of NCLB (horrible education policy) the administration insists on certain minimal standards and CC is sufficient, the financial impact of ending CC would be huge (maybe as high 15% of total education funding).
If someone has a different read with facts and knowledge, I’ll defer to them.
theres dat crazy fella in new mexico over at dakotans for pot blog thinks legalizing that ditch weed will solve our probs with our teachers. whatcha think?
its kind of funny following this debate. there’s a lot of talk about russell, may and disanto, and whether they should be supported or not, but not even a whisper about jensen. ok then.
I’m not hearing anything here about the issue of what the state is spending on curriculum and assessment. Do they cost $25 million or $51 million? And why is it that curriculum and assessments, which obviously cost money, are not on the table? If it costs money, it should be on the table, along with all the superfluous administrators, who are costing a lot of money but don’t want their jobs and compensation packages to be looked at.
What about the capital outlay funds? How much money are the school districts sitting on?
Seems like the fix is in, the Blue Ribbon task force just wants a state income tax, and are going to look at only those factors which will support that. They will tell us the money will go to teacher pay, to make us like the idea. But it will probably end up, like the “Janklow money” which was supposed to be paid to the nurses and aides who took care of elderly Title XIX recipients, going to administrators who will do whatever they want with it. (The Obamacare Medical Loss Ratio Rebates work the same way: the check goes to employers and, instead of distributing the funds to the employees enrolled in their group plans as Joe Biden expected, they pocketed the money.)
So let them propose some supplemental funds earmarked for teacher salaries. They’ll send one check to the school board or superintendent, who might distribute it to the teachers. Or Maybe not.
It’ll make for interesting crackerbarrel arguments between teachers and legislators over whether or not they got raises anyway.
Good to see Anne Beall is finally getting it. The people you have faithfully supported and defended in the past are responsible for stacking the task force.
Never thought I would see the day where Anne would be questioning the left leaning actions of the establishment moderates.
Good for you Anne!
Yes, I also applaud Anne. Common Core is costing taxpayers millions and if you think it isn’t, then show us the numbers. I thought SD didn’t like federal / corporate interference. Why not let local school boards decide their own standards. What ever happened to local control?
So when is anybody going to ask Jensen about his criminal background? I doubt he could pass a background investigation to even become a teacher, God forbid!
Jordan Mason has some information on the cost of Common Core to the state I’ll share with you:
“Nationally, CCSS was rolled out to the 45 states and adopted in 2010, with no analysis of the cost to implement such changes. Two years later, in March of 2012, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released their analysis entitled, “Putting a Price Tag on the Common Core”. They estimated it would cost the states approximately $12.1 billion. In December the same year, the Pioneer Institute released their analysis entitled, “National Cost of Aligning States & Localities to the Common Core Standards”. They placed the national estimate even higher at $15.8 billion. Taking into account the $4 billion given to states via the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Fordham estimated the states would bear a cost of $8.1 billion and Pioneer predicted it would require $11.8 billion to implement these new standards.
I have evaluated numerous studies, reports, budgets, and other financial information from the various states, districts, and independent groups across our country to evaluate what the impending costs are to our state. From my research, I believe the state of South Dakota is likely facing a $51,765,424.27 cost for the implementation of CCSS. However, as many states have recognized, the majority of the costs – on average 61%, are borne by the local school districts. As noted in a letter I received from the South Dakota Department of Education dated July 31, 2013, individual school districts are responsible for the “purchase [of] additional computers” and for any additional “textbooks” or supplies required for the transition. Notably, the Rapid City Area School District’s RTTT grant application allocated 45% of its funding requests for “Supplies, Technology, & Curricular Materials.” From my analysis, the local school districts statewide are faced with impending costs for this transition of approximately $83,130,344.66. That brings the estimated cost statewide to approximately $134 million. Of course, this does not include ongoing costs, such as the SBAC assessments, which will cost approximately $5 million per year, or other ongoing costs to the districts for required maintenance, insurance, and upgrades of the technology needed to administer the SBAC assessments.”
DiSanto and Russell are already on other lists.
Wow.
Scenario #1: South Dakota has roughly .024% of the nation’s students but is bearing over 3.2% of the cost of common core implementation. Now that is being inefficient (150 times more inefficient).
Scenario #2: The person putting out the number of $51mm is not very good at math and should be dismissed.
Since it is 150 times less efficient than the nation/other States while doing everything else in education (and government) more efficiently than the nation/other States, scenario #2 is most likely to be correct. Simple Math and one doesn’t need Common Core math to reach that conclusion. Just common sense.
Part of the issue was that, in order to apply for federal funding (Race to the Top or something) they had to agree to implement the CCCS.
This is what prompted Massachusetts to abandon its own, higher, standards, in favor of CCCS, to get the money.
But, my understanding is, South Dakota lost that raffle and didn’t get the money, and is now out the cost of the raffle tickets, er, the CCCS. So while some states won the raffle and got the money, easing the financial burden in their states, SD got hit with the entire bill.
Anne,
I don’t think that is correct in whole.
1) SD had to have acceptable standards under No Child Left Behind or they would lose all federal funding (not just access to Race to the Top). Common Core is an acceptable alternative and I dare anyone to assert Common Core is not at minimum better than NCLB (based on the emphasis on self-image and giving every child a ribbon).
2) Massachusetts could have submitted its standards (I’m not convinced they are higher* and it is a legitimate question to debate if they are superior) as an alternative standard to NCLB. They chose not to. Their choice.
* I at least appreciate your statement you believe Massachusetts had superior standards. At the end of the day, all of the opposition comments have two basic components:
1) They are too hard. At a time when we are lamenting we are losing ground on education deliverables, I find it ironic there is a complaint they are too rigorous.
2) They don’t have a comprehensive alternative standard to NCLB which means that is the default standard. See #1.
Do i think Common Core is perfect? No. But it is superior to NCLB. Rather than just complaining about Common Core, I think it more productive to discuss how to improve Common Core (or propose an alternative) because standards get reviewed and updated every five years in South Dakota. In just a few short years, we all have a chance to make our standards better. Let’s look forward and not look backwards.