The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students holds its penultimate meeting tomorrow in Pierre at the View 34 golf-course restaurant. The focus of this meeting, according to the agenda, will be money, with state officials Tami Darnall, Jim Terwilliger, Andy Gerlach, and Mike Houdyshell talking about funding models and revenue options. The panel will also discuss “Efficiency and Outcomes Possibilities” and “teacher Recruitment/Retention” before breaking into small groups in the afternoon. By the end of the day, the panel aspires to “Discussion, Recommendations, and Next Steps.”
I should be bothered by the optics of holding a public meeting at a fancy restaurant next to a golf course. But maybe as the Blue Ribboneers gaze out the windows at Pierre’s leisure class enjoying their expensive ball-chasing (Thursday’s weather: 70°F, partly sunny, windy), they’ll think about the wealth this state has available to raise teacher salaries. They’ll think about the teachers who are in their classrooms (except for the two K-12 teachers who serve with the 24 non-teachers on this panel deciding the fate of our state K-12 funding policy) earning the lowest salaries in the nation for the thirtieth year in a row. And maybe, just maybe, the Blue Ribboneers will put two and two together and realize they need to redistribute some wealth to support the teachers who make it possible for everyone in this state to acquire wealth.
Or maybe they’ll just have the steak for lunch and make teachers beg for scraps.
As a retired chef, may I say it was always SO special when such important people dined with us. No, I repeat NO cook ever let his politics interfere with his food preparation duties.
So here is what will happen we will took a look at it, then next year we will take another look at it then the year after we will say we will have to fix it.Then we will have another meeting to say we will meet on this next year.Can I get a standing ovation on this as I already figure it out.
Moses, I hope you don’t earn a SO, but I fear you might. 30 years of being dead last, and the majority of SD’s citizens don’t seem to mind enough to make a change. Embarrassing.
Meeting starts this morning at 9:30. I’ll be running around town during the latter two thirds of the meeting, so I’ll miss the juicy discussion. But you all should be able to tune in live here:
http://blueribbon.sd.gov/meetings.aspx