Adelstein: Rapid City Opt-Out Vital to Education, May Keep Pressure on Legislature
By Cory Allen Heidelberger on 2015-05-26
Former legislator and blog sponsor Stan Adelstein is urging his Rapid City neighbors to vote yes on the school opt-out on the June 2 ballot. Without the additional six million dollars requested by the Rapid City school board, Adelstein says Rapid City schools will face the “unconscionable” elimination of 120 teaching positions, which will in turn lead to “unmanageable” class sizes. Adelstein also warns of reductions in bus service and extracurricular activities.
Adelstein supplements his primary argument about educational quality with a secondary political argument—not passing the opt-out may hurt school funding statewide:
Stan Adelstein: Vote Yes on Rapid City school opt-out!
It is virtually impossible to expect any relief or assistance in our current crisis from Pierre. There are some interesting possibilities after the 2016 election, but today the opt-out election is the only way to make the desperately needed difference in funding levels in the next few years.We definitely must fight for changes in Pierre, but there is no immediate hope for that route. One thing that I know for sure from my years in the legislature: if the opt-out fails, that vote will be used against us! The legislative assumption will be, “If they were unwilling to help themselves, the problem must not be all that bad, so why should we do anything?!” [Stan Adelstein, “The Opt-Out Is the ONLY Immediate Solution!!” A Way to Go, 2015.05.23]
I have heard the opposite argument from Adelstein’s neighbor and two-time legislative candidate Robin Page, who contends that passing the opt-out would take the pressure off legislators to come up with additional K-12 funding. Maybe the point is moot and, as Adelstein says, we cannot expect the current Legislature and Governor to support K-12 education, no matter what the voters do.
Adelstein tempers his stark pessimism about Pierre’s commitment to K-12 education with one tantalizing phrase, “some interesting possibilities after the 2016 election.” Adelstein could foresee the possibility of gubernatorial aspirants like Rep. Mark Mickelson in the Legislature proposing education funding to build their K-12 cred. Or maybe the former Senator is signaling his plan to get back on his legislative horse and ride to Pierre with a caucus of K-12-minded legislators whom he would back in the election.
Adelstein and his neighbors have one week to hash out their differences on funding their schools… and 120 teachers have a week to wait to find out whether they will be cashing their last paycheck from the Rapid City Area Schools.
Get rid of the property tax that we pay into schools and replace it with a corporate and personal income tax.
Donald Pay
2015-05-26 16:34
I think Stan is right at this time. I took the Robin Page position 15 years ago, when the idea of an opt out came up in Rapid City. Let’s just say that strategy failed as badly as the Legislature and Governor.
I’d characterize state government’s position on education is “you’re on your own,” even though it is the “duty” of state government to have a system of public education. State government doesn’t care about students or teachers. They just don’t care. They’ll spend money on a ridiculous radioactive waste deep borehole project, before they’ll spend one penny on K-12 education.
Deb Geelsdottir
2015-05-26 20:51
Unfortunately, I think Donald is right about the legislature’s priorities. I also recognize that there are some individual exceptions to that blanket condemnation.
Bob Newland
2015-05-27 08:17
Adelstein just assured that the opt-out will fail at the polls.
The opt-out is not a referendum on Adelstein. That said, I suspect he’s correct – the opt-out will lose by about the same amount as the Civic Ctr expansion.
The truth – as I see it – is that the reason our schools are struggling is not that we don’t pay enough in property taxes.
Roger Cornelius
2015-05-27 17:40
As John T. pointed out on one of his Constant Commoner blogs, Rapid City teapublicans are opposed to the opt-out and mainstream republicans like Stan are for it.
It is fun to watch republicans fight, and fight it is. Between the mayoral race and the opt out it is getting vicious in Rapid City.
Get rid of the property tax that we pay into schools and replace it with a corporate and personal income tax.
I think Stan is right at this time. I took the Robin Page position 15 years ago, when the idea of an opt out came up in Rapid City. Let’s just say that strategy failed as badly as the Legislature and Governor.
I’d characterize state government’s position on education is “you’re on your own,” even though it is the “duty” of state government to have a system of public education. State government doesn’t care about students or teachers. They just don’t care. They’ll spend money on a ridiculous radioactive waste deep borehole project, before they’ll spend one penny on K-12 education.
Unfortunately, I think Donald is right about the legislature’s priorities. I also recognize that there are some individual exceptions to that blanket condemnation.
Adelstein just assured that the opt-out will fail at the polls.
Is Adelstein that unpopular around town, Bob?
The opt-out is not a referendum on Adelstein. That said, I suspect he’s correct – the opt-out will lose by about the same amount as the Civic Ctr expansion.
The truth – as I see it – is that the reason our schools are struggling is not that we don’t pay enough in property taxes.
As John T. pointed out on one of his Constant Commoner blogs, Rapid City teapublicans are opposed to the opt-out and mainstream republicans like Stan are for it.
It is fun to watch republicans fight, and fight it is. Between the mayoral race and the opt out it is getting vicious in Rapid City.