If I’m going to blame Republican Sioux Falls legislators for failing to produce solid results on the Blue Ribbon K-12 panel, I’ve got to look west and hand some of that blame to their Democratic neighbor Rep. Paula Hawks in District 9 in Hartford. Of course, since Rep. Hawks is seeking to supersize her Representative title by replacing Kristi Noem in Congress—and since their other State House member, Steve Hickey, resigned this summer—District 9 is already sure to elect new representation next November.
Rep. Hawks is inclined to agree with the assessment that the Blue Ribbon K-12 panel delivered less than promised. Hawks tells Beth Warden of KSOO that she’s disappointed that the panel couldn’t produce a solid plan at its final meeting on October 29:
Rep. Hawks still hopes the panel can put together a plan that the Legislature can pass, but she signals that she won’t waste her time pitching a plan that she herself can’t strongly support:
The Blue Ribboneers declared on their Process webpage that they would issue their final report in October. Hawks and her compadres are now five days late in issuing that report. Let’s hope Rep. Hawks is backing this front-channel broadcast challenge with some backchannel calls and e-mails to rally her fellow task force members to put forward a real plan for South Dakota’s teachers.
My question will ANY plan presented to the legislature pass?
I have my doubts.
For that reason the panel should go big so if they have to compromise it won’t gut the plan.
Looks like the dems are headed down the same path throw more money a education and try and make the,election a one issue election.
South Dakotans are not buying it and will not. Until the Dems change the republicans will continue to make gains
Sadly I predict another land,slide win for Kristi
Sam@,
I agree it will be another landslide but not just in this race. Are there any good Blues bars in Sioux Falls? It will be good night for that. The Dems will unfortunately defeat themselves.
I am disappointed as well. However, I give Hawks credit as she is one of the few Blue Ribbon panel members who is coming to SDSU this evening for a discussion. I anticipate seeing a lot of pre-service teachers attend the event and they have asked some good questions–at least the ones that my students wrote.
The panel discussion will be at 7 pm tonight in Rotunda D at SDSU.
So Sam@ what is your answer for education spending?
In Louisiana, a bastion of red, we have this to show that we all we cross party lines for the best for our state. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/11/republican_jay_dardenne_endors.html
Republicans and voter ignorance.
http://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2015/11/4/9665842/republican-inequality-future-loop
The panel spent money and time to identify the obvious. When it was all said and done they came up with a figure, but no funding. That sounds familiar. The panel was merely an exercise in futility mirroring the continual antics of the Republican dominated state legislature. When will this charade end, I ask?
Sam, we’re not just “throwing more money at a problem.” I’m talking about paying teachers the competitive wage that South Dakota has cheated them of for two generations. Are you saying South Dakotans aren’t prepared to pay teachers what they are worth?
Panel Discussion on education at SDSU tonight?! Dr. Math, send us a transcript… or a video!
Sam- your comment about throwing more money at education implies that funding is not the major problem. If our funding levels in SD for education were not enjoying last in the nation status, maybe you could rationally make your assertion. It baffles me how Republicans who preach about the virtues of the market seem to forget economics 101 when it comes to education funding in general and teacher funding in particular. If we fund education at such a low level in SD that other states and other fields of employment pay way better, why should we expect to have a quality educational system in SD? We have a Republican controlled government that is focused on trying to lure business here from other states, when they should be focused on our education system and growing the capabilities of our citizens and students. Why can’t we have the next Mark Zuckerberg come from Faith, SD, and be an entrepreneur here in SD? Mainly, the problem, as I see it, is we are not willing to invest in our educational system like we do in our out-of-state business development efforts. I looked at the governor and lieutenant governor’s website this summer and their letters to us citizens emphasized their top priority was business development. They did not even mention education! Wow!
Mr. H, the laws of supply and demand determine what a teacher is worth. That, and how good of a teacher they are. Good teachers are more in demand. Throwing money at a problem just makes the problem more expensive but does not fix it. Next in line with their hands out will be the plumbers or the media people or probably some other union group that wastes their wages paying some fat cats to sit around and think things up for them.
Darin, you’re seeing exactly the business-über-alles mindset that’s dragging this state down. Daugaard and the SDGOP rationalize handing lots of money to their business friends (a.k.a. campaign donors and voters) by pretending that they’ll create lots of jobs and economic activity that will then allow them to spend more on schools. They ignore the fact that entrepreneurship will thrive in communities where you build a good foundation of schools. They expect, as Grudz does, that the Invisible Hand will swoop in and make everything fine, by magic. But it doesn’t work that way. I’ll grant that supply and demand set teacher pay, but the problem is that South Dakota’s GOP leadership isn’t demanding the best teachers. The SDGOP chokes demand by refusing to provide the funding for regionally competitive wages. For 30 years we have paid the least by far in the nation; thus, instead of being able to compete for the best teachers in the nation, local school districts have had to settle for increasing turnover, fewer applicants, and an inability to hire the best person every time.
Supply and demand set wages. Everyone else is demanding better and draining our supply. We need to respond to that economic fact by changing the values that define our demand. Raise teacher pay $10,000—now.
Grudznick, you say “good teachers are more in demand.” Not in South Dakota. Good teachers are paid more in every state in the nation than in South Dakota. The GOP has put a value on good teachers in this state and that value is less than any other state. The laws of supply and demand drive good teachers out of South Dakota. Other states demand good teachers and SD supplies them. If they want to remain in South Dakota, many good teachers are changing professions. The state does not set the salaries of plumbers or media people, but through the funding formula, the state effectively sets the salaries of teachers in this state.
CAH, I could not agree more. I heard the governor on the radio today. He was talking a good game about job creation again and his business buddies were falling all over themselves to pat him on the back. Unfortunately, he had little to nothing to say about education. He’s going to review the Blue Ribbon report before he comments on education. He just does not get that education is the foundation of business and economic growth. He has starved our educational system to keep taxes a little lower. This is foolish in the short run and catastrophic in the long run. Minnesota which raised taxes on the wealthy to fund investments in education has grown their economy and has a budget surplus. South Dakota raised taxes to fix roads because the governor called it a “crisis.” But the GOP won’t raise taxes to fund education. The governor does not see the crisis that he has helped to create in education!
Good teachers are more in demand than good cops.
Keep those comparisons to Minnesota coming, Darin. Some of my friends tell me that making such comparisons to other states only reinforces the bunker mentality of South Dakota voters, but I say people can only resist reality for so long. Eventually, we’ve got to get sick of being the worst place for teachers in America.
Sam has no plan for education. Wingnuts prefer education just goes away-especially public funded,liberal arts educations. They are only interested in making money-not spending any.
In Texas the wingnut soopreme court has to decide if home schooled children are required to learn anything at all. There are no standards or tests for home schooling in wingnut Texas. That seems to be the main point for wingnuts-keep ’em all stoopid.