According to the Dakota Scout this afternoon, while Governor Rhoden notes it is going to be a zero-increase year for education, House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach is holding a budget ax and looking towards our kids to further cut costs:
Rhoden also pushed back on conservatives in his own party who have called for budget cuts. The governor challenged them on where they would find cuts: To education, health providers or public safety. Outside of education, social services programs and public safety, the rest of state government receives only 4 percent of what’s left over in revenues.
“So, I ask the legislators who are asking for cuts, where should we cut? Should we cut health care, education, or public safety?” he said.
and..
“When you look at what’s happened with Medicaid, it’s a big number,” said Odenbach, who represents Spearfish.
He also pointed out that K-12 education spending had risen faster than inflation, even though enrollment in the state has dropped. He suggested that could be an area lawmakers examine when they look at proposals to reduce property taxes in the next session starting in January.
Apparently, as far as some legislators are concerned, 46th in the nation for average teacher salaries leaves room to cut.
Idiotic.
I suppose the premise is that we should reduce funding for public education until there are single room schools out on the prairie with one teacher.
Like-minded people also believe the government can do nothing to enhance the economy. That tourism is a scam. And that the 10 Commandments posted on the wall will be the solution to our problems.
Well, at least South Dakota is known at being the best in one thing: shortsightedness.
The 10 commandments in schools mandate was proposed by California Carley, not an actual South Dakotan. Just pretend it never happened.
If it were up to these cretins, we would be driving on gravel roads.
Here we go, another step closer to being the Mississippi of the North.
Keep them dumb down and they will keep voting for an Odenbach and now Rhoden?
Larry, not sure aligning yourself with Kristi and now home school over public education is going to win you a job.
God help us, Rhoden, Johnson, Doeden, and the guy that Doeden forgot, Hansen. Makes you wish for a Bill to be in the race, Janklow or Sutton would look good about now.
When 40% of freshmen at SD state colleges have to take a remedial math or English course, or both, it’s time that K-12/Big Ed be held accountable. And when SD college students start in the basic math remedial course, less than 10% graduate with a 4 year degree in 6 years. These are BOG figures for all to see.
More money to K-12 in the past 15 years has not significantly changed the 40%. There is NO positive correlation between teacher salaries and student performance on standardized exams.
We cannot afford another 20 years of taxpayer funded mediocrity. Nor can our children.
Interesting. Could you cite your source? I’d like to share.
40 percent? Do you have a link for this data? I have seen percentages closer to 30 percent coming from the Board of Regents. Does your 40 percent break out public school kids, home school kids, private school kids, out of state kids? You do realize around 38 percent of the students attending college in SD are from out of state? SD students lead the nation in in the ACT test in states with over 30 percent participation and are in the top 20 percent in the other big nationwide NAEP standardized test. Herein lies the problem………inaccurate data from the LRC and how it is manipulated/gathered and used. I saw Odenbach share data last week that showed 39 percent growth in K-12 education since 2020 and he put K-12 in his crosshairs. Rhoden had a slide on his budget briefing today that wasn’t even close to Odenbach’s numbers with the following growth percentages since 2020 by functional area: Medicaid grew by 90 percent, Public Safety by 55 percent, Higher Election by 41 percent, Taking Care of people by 41 percent and K-12 education by 29 percent. Inflation during this time period was running 21-26 percent. I think the bigger issue is decisions based on the last 2 years of this Legislature that is leading to huge revenue issues which looks to be exasperated in the out years. It will be interesting to see how Odenbach and AFP try to push tax payer funded ESAs whe the cupboard is bare. I am guessing this is why Odenbach is trying to cut K-12 even further to find the money for ESAs.
Wait til they make everyone take the ACT. Guessing they’ll only do that for a couple years. State average about to go way down.
As I’ve said before and will say again, half of the education problem has to do with life at home. Fathers not around. Addictions. Mental health challenges. The stuff teachers have to deal with would blow your mind. I think we ought to pay teachers more because we still need to attract young people to teach plus it’s the right thing to do. But expecting more results from more spending, when half or more of the problem is at home, is understandable but misguided. I would love to know how much is spent on social programs and charities to ‘solve’ our many problems. Despite all that money, are we making any progress?
ARE HOME SCHOOLS MAKING PROGRESS? GUESS WE WILL NEVER KNOW AS THEY REFUSE TO TEST.
Home schools have zero regulations.
No accountability whatsoever.
I too question the accountability. I often see the homeschool community brag about getting all of their kid’s school work done in 2 hours and then spend the rest of the day baking bread, tending to gardens, or changing oil in the car (all things a lot of Public Schools are currently doing in the CTE world.). I’m sure it works for some, but I had a nice young homeschool boy wait on me during my last trip to the local grocery store. He struggled making change or engaging in a coherent conversation. Probably an outlier but as I exited the parking lot, I noticed 2 well known “no schoolers” in our community ripping their mini bikes up and down the parking lot. This was during the school day. We often say we are losing the education battle/test score competition to China. It is against the law to homeschool in China and their kids spend 14-15 hours per day in Government Schools. Hmmmm.
By all means, let’s follow the lead of China. Let’s is adopt the communist approach to state-mandated cultural indoctrination.
Tired of the blaming of circumstances game. Is it that parents don’t act like parents. They want to be friends with their children. And more importantly kids don’t care.
Trump’s america is only going to get better. Its almost laughable at this point.
The authors comment of “Apparently, as far as some legislators are concerned, 46th in the nation for average teacher salaries leaves room to cut.” caused me to search where South Dakota falls in state tax revenue. South Dakota is 47th. 46th for teacher salary falls above the line understanding what revenue comes in.
That is probably correct as far as state tax revenue. No income tax and one of the lowest sales taxes in the nation. When you look at per capita GDP, South Dakota is 25th in the nation and has one of the lowest tax burdens as a percentage of tax payer income in the nation. When it comes to K-12 education, the state has chosen to be heavily reliant on federal funds and property taxes. We are 2nd in the nation in federal funding of education, 16th in the nation in local funding of education, and 48th in the nation in state funding of education. I think most folks would like to see the gap between the local funding and state funding be smaller.
Spot on. 42.2 percent federal funding is required to balance our SD State Budget. We brag about having a balanced budget for over 100 years. This reliance on the federal teet should cause concern for everyone, especially with what is happening at the Federal level now.