“I believe that if you start your campaign and run on a platform calling for a full loaf, at worst you’re gonna get a half loaf,” the senator from Vermont said. “If you start your campaign talking about a need for a half loaf, you’re going to get crumbs. And the American people today do not want, do not need crumbs. They need the whole loaf” [John Wagner, “Sanders Argues a Bold Agenda Will Ensure the American People Don’t Get ‘Crumbs’,” Washington Post, 2016.02.28].
House Bill 1182 comes to the South Dakota Senate floor today. It offers teachers more than crumbs. Getting HB 1182 from a Republican governor has required decades of demands for a full loaf. Passing that half a loaf today will require one more morning of calls and e-mails to our Senators to tell them crumbs are not enough.
Enough posturing, enough promises to do something next week, next month, next year. Please vote yes on HB 1182.
Steve Sibson
How many people that will be paying the higher tax get less than crumbs? And are those who have been giver a $128 million general fund budget increase getting just crumbs? I asked the District 20 legislators on Friday where that money is going and why those areas are more important than raising teacher pay, and none could answer the question. And the Mitchell paper did not report their inability to justify a tax increase in the name of raising teacher pay $5 an hour to an average $30 per hour. That is based on a Bob Mercer report I read in the Mitchell paper. How man people consider $30 an hour crumbs in South Dakota?
grudznick
Mr. Price, do you envision that Mr. Gosch fellow getting another stab at the 1182 bill? Perhaps you should be emailing Mr. Silano instead. I think he votes today.
Craig
Steve do you really believe teachers make an average of $30 an hour for the actual number of hours they work? For a regular full time position who works 40 hours a week that is approximately 2000 hours a year (technically 2080 but we factor in some vacation and holiday time).
So at 2000 hours, someone who makes $30 an hour would gross $60,000 a year. We know our average teachers are paid far less than that, and we also know the average teacher probably averages over 2000 hours a year – but they aren’t hourly positions, so it is difficult to say for sure since teachers don’t punch a time clock.
What we do know is that the tax plan currently under consideration would raise teacher pay to an average of $48,500. Assuming that same 2,000 hours a year that works out to be $24.25 an hour. Is that crumbs? Perhaps not… but it isn’t much when we require our teachers to have at least a four year college degree in addition to ongoing education which results in many teachers having masters degrees. Can you name another profession where someone with a Masters Degree consistently earns less than $50k a year?
We need to stop and realize we aren’t going to get the best and brightest entering the teaching field when the pay makes it difficult for them to justify teaching over working as a call center supervisor or a assistant manager at the local chain restaurant where they can actually make more money. We have seen the results of being cheap over the past few decades – it isn’t working. It is time to invest in education.
Rorschach
The Bernie Sanders campaign is on the ropes. I worry what will happen when Hillary is the Democratic nominee and the head of the FBI resigns in protest because the Justice Department is covering up for Hillary and her staffers and declining to prosecute them for putting sensitive information on a hackable private server. Will that lead us to President Trump? The guy Hillary and Bill recruited to torpedo the GOP party – actually winning. Scary times.
Rorschach
Might be a good year for Jon Huntsman to get his name on the ballot as an independent.
mike from iowa
Ferchrissakes if HRC is guilty of something then they better be saddling her with charges instead of waiting to throw the election to an unelected wingnut. Otherwis,stop the BS about crimes that haven’t been committed. This sounds more like dirty tricks from wingnuts.
John Kennedy Claussen
And that “loaf,” under HB 1182, could now cost a 1/2 percent more. This does not sound like much, but when it further legitimizes and makes a state more dependent upon a regressive tax system the costs are much greater than many wish or are willing to imagine.
Roger Cornelius
President Obama was and is a big and bold whole loaf thinker and doer, even with his accomplishments like Obama he was held back by obstructionists and had to accept half a loaf a few times.
Will that happen to Bernie or Hillary, too?
Jeff Endrizzi
Cory, were there any bills proposed this year that would have shown the “superior Democratic plans”?
Jenny
Hey everyone, they passed the teacher pay increase bill! 25-10!
Kris
my frends are gettin paperwerk from peirre to start green party in 605 dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff, yes: Senate Bill 151. One neat bill, food tax relief, no shift to property tax relief, less regressive impact, straightforward per-student allocation boost, more enough money to raise us to 26th in nation and median in region instead of Daugaard’s 37th in nation and still bottom of region.
Craig, good math up there. Steve’s hourly wage comparison also commits the error of thinking that converting teacher pay to hourly wages and comparing to other local hourly work at all reflects the market realities that need to drive what we pay our teachers. We aren’t competing with McDonalds or construction contractors to hire teachers. We are competing with schools in other states, which demand the same work from teachers but pay a whole goo-gob more for that work. So yes, Sibby, it makes all sorts of sense to give our teachers a 20% raise, because teachers in other states are making 20% or more more than teachers in South Dakota.
Roger, I speculate Republican obstructionism won’t differ much between Obama, Clinton, or Sanders. The GOP is in too deep and they won’t back off. Our only hope on that front is to see Trump destroy the GOP and our next Democratic President face a splintered opposition that must make deals.
John KC, you know I don’t like taxing that loaf. I also don’t like seeing our teaching corps dwindle. Today was hard choice time, and remarkably, the majority made the hard choice, while the Novstrup minority cloaked their anti-education attitudes in feigned concern for those poor loaf-eaters.
Jon Holmdal
If Elizabeth Warren joins Bernie Sanders as a running mate—the American people will get a full loaf!
Roger Cornelius
Bernie Sanders will have to win the nomination before choosing Elizabeth Warren or anybody else as a running mate, we’re a long way from that.
I do not recall a presidential candidate picking a running mate during the primaries.
Les
Trumped just tweeted, Liz Warren coming on board as VP. Too late, Bernie.
Trump’s gone rogue!
Jus another devisive game being played on teevee with all the same folks pulling the strings.
Roger, that’s an interesting point about VP choice not being made until the nomination is secure. I found this page listing the running-mate pick dates back to Reagan—indeed, all post-primary, pre-convention. Has any candidate ever publicly promised his VP during the primary season?
My letter to Gosch this morning:
Enough posturing, enough promises to do something next week, next month, next year. Please vote yes on HB 1182.
How many people that will be paying the higher tax get less than crumbs? And are those who have been giver a $128 million general fund budget increase getting just crumbs? I asked the District 20 legislators on Friday where that money is going and why those areas are more important than raising teacher pay, and none could answer the question. And the Mitchell paper did not report their inability to justify a tax increase in the name of raising teacher pay $5 an hour to an average $30 per hour. That is based on a Bob Mercer report I read in the Mitchell paper. How man people consider $30 an hour crumbs in South Dakota?
Mr. Price, do you envision that Mr. Gosch fellow getting another stab at the 1182 bill? Perhaps you should be emailing Mr. Silano instead. I think he votes today.
Steve do you really believe teachers make an average of $30 an hour for the actual number of hours they work? For a regular full time position who works 40 hours a week that is approximately 2000 hours a year (technically 2080 but we factor in some vacation and holiday time).
So at 2000 hours, someone who makes $30 an hour would gross $60,000 a year. We know our average teachers are paid far less than that, and we also know the average teacher probably averages over 2000 hours a year – but they aren’t hourly positions, so it is difficult to say for sure since teachers don’t punch a time clock.
What we do know is that the tax plan currently under consideration would raise teacher pay to an average of $48,500. Assuming that same 2,000 hours a year that works out to be $24.25 an hour. Is that crumbs? Perhaps not… but it isn’t much when we require our teachers to have at least a four year college degree in addition to ongoing education which results in many teachers having masters degrees. Can you name another profession where someone with a Masters Degree consistently earns less than $50k a year?
We need to stop and realize we aren’t going to get the best and brightest entering the teaching field when the pay makes it difficult for them to justify teaching over working as a call center supervisor or a assistant manager at the local chain restaurant where they can actually make more money. We have seen the results of being cheap over the past few decades – it isn’t working. It is time to invest in education.
The Bernie Sanders campaign is on the ropes. I worry what will happen when Hillary is the Democratic nominee and the head of the FBI resigns in protest because the Justice Department is covering up for Hillary and her staffers and declining to prosecute them for putting sensitive information on a hackable private server. Will that lead us to President Trump? The guy Hillary and Bill recruited to torpedo the GOP party – actually winning. Scary times.
Might be a good year for Jon Huntsman to get his name on the ballot as an independent.
Ferchrissakes if HRC is guilty of something then they better be saddling her with charges instead of waiting to throw the election to an unelected wingnut. Otherwis,stop the BS about crimes that haven’t been committed. This sounds more like dirty tricks from wingnuts.
And that “loaf,” under HB 1182, could now cost a 1/2 percent more. This does not sound like much, but when it further legitimizes and makes a state more dependent upon a regressive tax system the costs are much greater than many wish or are willing to imagine.
President Obama was and is a big and bold whole loaf thinker and doer, even with his accomplishments like Obama he was held back by obstructionists and had to accept half a loaf a few times.
Will that happen to Bernie or Hillary, too?
Cory, were there any bills proposed this year that would have shown the “superior Democratic plans”?
Hey everyone, they passed the teacher pay increase bill! 25-10!
my frends are gettin paperwerk from peirre to start green party in 605 dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/jon_tester/412244
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/alan_franken/412378
Jeff, yes: Senate Bill 151. One neat bill, food tax relief, no shift to property tax relief, less regressive impact, straightforward per-student allocation boost, more enough money to raise us to 26th in nation and median in region instead of Daugaard’s 37th in nation and still bottom of region.
(Sure, Kris. You do that. You have until March 29 to gather 6,936 signatures. See SDCL 12-5-1. Be sure to check your spelling on the petition.)
Craig, good math up there. Steve’s hourly wage comparison also commits the error of thinking that converting teacher pay to hourly wages and comparing to other local hourly work at all reflects the market realities that need to drive what we pay our teachers. We aren’t competing with McDonalds or construction contractors to hire teachers. We are competing with schools in other states, which demand the same work from teachers but pay a whole goo-gob more for that work. So yes, Sibby, it makes all sorts of sense to give our teachers a 20% raise, because teachers in other states are making 20% or more more than teachers in South Dakota.
Roger, I speculate Republican obstructionism won’t differ much between Obama, Clinton, or Sanders. The GOP is in too deep and they won’t back off. Our only hope on that front is to see Trump destroy the GOP and our next Democratic President face a splintered opposition that must make deals.
John KC, you know I don’t like taxing that loaf. I also don’t like seeing our teaching corps dwindle. Today was hard choice time, and remarkably, the majority made the hard choice, while the Novstrup minority cloaked their anti-education attitudes in feigned concern for those poor loaf-eaters.
If Elizabeth Warren joins Bernie Sanders as a running mate—the American people will get a full loaf!
Bernie Sanders will have to win the nomination before choosing Elizabeth Warren or anybody else as a running mate, we’re a long way from that.
I do not recall a presidential candidate picking a running mate during the primaries.
Trumped just tweeted, Liz Warren coming on board as VP. Too late, Bernie.
Trump’s gone rogue!
Jus another devisive game being played on teevee with all the same folks pulling the strings.
Welcome back to Washington, Madam Presisdent.
Les, what?
Trump doesn’t remember tweeting anything this morning. ;)
You, Les, are a clever satirist.
Roger, that’s an interesting point about VP choice not being made until the nomination is secure. I found this page listing the running-mate pick dates back to Reagan—indeed, all post-primary, pre-convention. Has any candidate ever publicly promised his VP during the primary season?