Rosier budget projections have apparently fizzled; Majority Leader Lee Qualm is saying we may be back to stiffing teachers and state employees:
Republicans who control the Legislature are noncommittal on a 2% increase but say they would like to see some sort of pay raise. Democrats said their top priority this year is pushing GOP lawmakers to get the 2%, which would be about $32 million. School districts often give pay raises to teachers regardless of the inflationary budget increases, but must carve out that money from other programs.
House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, a Republican from Platte, said that raising pay by 2% is impossible unless cuts are made to other budget items.
But Senate Assistant Majority Leader Jim Bolin, a Canton Republican, said he is hopeful they could find the money [“Funds for Pay Raises for State Workers, Teachers May Not Be There, GOP Lawmaker Says,” AP via Rapid City Journal, 2020.03.05].
Come on, fellas: you’re going to save all sorts of money by denying university employees their freedom of association. Surely you can find some spare pennies for teachers (at least until you take away their union rights next year…). And isn’t Trump supposed to be making our economy boom? Where’s our Trumpistani prosperity?
“Stewart has been following the Christian nationalist movement for over a decade as an investigative reporter and journalist. Her latest book highlights the way in which this movement is decentralized, consisting of a dense ecosystem of organizations, operatives, and Christian billionaire clans. Instead of collapsing Christian nationalists to single issues like abortion or gay marriage, she claims that it is an anti-democratic political movement with deep roots in a Christian opposition to civil rights, the New Deal, and abolition.”
is.gd/vGChW4
The quote is from a Sojourners article and the expert, Katherine Stewart, explains why and how the SDGOP and the entire GOP has been purchased by the Religious Wrong. It’s much more nefarious than you think.
Stewart tells what their long term plan is, how its been playing out, how they’re playing rank and file supporters and how they despise democracy.
The article is fairly brief and not paywalled. Please read it.
And underfunding public education is part of this plot, right?
Absolutely. The article states that the Religious Wrong sees public education as one of the big enemies due to its emphasis on plurality and equalizing effect.
As I’ve said several times before, I have no idea what religion those people are promoting, but it’s nothing Jesus Christ would recognize.
Educating our children/young people prepares them to make our state of South Dakota a better place to live and work! Also, when a better educated populace exists they make the economy better for all and support us elders so we can remain here vs seeking better locations for receiving services, etc. Being a proactive community makes for a much better world.
At our time of peril, we need to look to government and leaders to help direct us to a safe harbor. With all of these wrong headed directions, we only feel further the sense of doom from what is coming. Here is the same kind of bulls#:+ on a national level.
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Farhad Manjoo
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@fmanjoo
The CDC presser was among the most frightening Trump appearances I’ve ever seen, on the level of Charlottesville — a horrifying and surprising (even for him!) callousness in the face of death and suffering, an inability to see anything through a lens other than his own ratings
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Chris Hayes
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@chrislhayes
Ok, the CDC appearance was the most disturbing one yet from Trump. He literally said experts were telling him to take sick Americans off a cruise ship but he doesn’t want to do it because it WILL MAKE THE NUMBERS GO UP and it “wasn’t our fault.” Holy Jesus.
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Sam Stein
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@samstein
Tough to decide what the worst part of Trumps CDC visit was
– Saying he wanted to keep sick people on a ship to fudge the numbers
– lashing out at the gov of the worst hit state
– being preoccupied w/ the ratings he got on Fox
– or saying anyone can get tested when they can’t
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He used the press event as an opportunity to attack Democrats, praise his own intelligence, slam CNN and spread false and misleading information about the status of the coronavirus outbreak.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/mar/06/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-2020-presidential-election-trump-coronavirus-live-updates
South Dakota better pull their heads out. We desperately need our state employees and we certainly need to rely on our teachers as well. Every school district should now be making key arrangements for alternative study when the schools are forced to shut down due to this epidemic. Don’t be fooled, it’s here and it will not be good.
Wanna see how South Dakota can get that virus? Ask if EB5 Rounds or Thune or Dirty Johnson were at the AIPAC with the other 18,000 dummies. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/06/coronavirus-aipac-tells-lawmakers-participants-two-attendees-have-covid-19/4979822002/
Bernie at least had the good sense to stay away.
South Dakota should start immediately getting shovel ready plans for the needed stimulus as this spirals into something worse than 2008. Why are school construction projects not a part of federal funding instead of local taxpayers? South Dakota should have in place at least a 15% to 25%, to start with and more if needed, wage increases for teachers and for all public servants with free healthcare. Farmers and ranchers should also be included in a stimulus package that will not only allow for the markets of government purchased grains and livestock at profitable prices, but also relief in the purchase of farm ready equipment. The stimulus should also include upgrades to our existing water systems along with improvements. Making underground electrical a priority for rural areas as well as shoring up the few hospitals and clinics that take care of the huge area of they encompass. You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, we are in one helluva mess and it’s gonna get a lot worse. Prepare the people so they know their back is covered.
Pat, I’d love to have a Legislature that is proactive about something other than stifling pipeline protests. As your brief points indicate, investing properly (i.e., far more than South Dakota does) in education will reduce social costs across the board.
Being pro-active on a smart level actually costs much less to accomplish anything when you consider continual cost escalation thru time. We must remember the Midwest is supposedly the breadbasket of the world…America needs a good reminder of this again. We might be “flyover” for many concerns, but don’t we feed a majority of those flying over?? Also, we must continue to hope we’re feeding a lot of the rest of the world. We should earn the respect of the folks making the overseas markets accept our goods… tech & “hard” goods too many times are sourced out of country which hurts our economy in times such as now, but FOOD is our lifeline. Being proactive to shore up that market keeps the farmers of South Dakota & the entire Midwest alive & hopefully thriving. Think about who will support you honestly on the home front in November.
Pat makes such an important point that has been neglected for years. Perhaps this is an excellent time to reemphasize this:
tech & “hard” goods too many times are sourced out of country which hurts our economy in times such as now, but FOOD is our lifeline. Being proactive to shore up that market keeps the farmers of South Dakota & the entire Midwest alive & hopefully thriving.
Middle America, the Breadbasket of the USA!
“The bottom line: ‘Sink or swim by your own strength is not applicable to this generation as it was with previous ones,’ says Kent. ‘The tide is much stronger.'”
Axios explains why repairing the economy and reasserting the righteousness of the American Dream is a winning campaign. It’s very short and worth every second.
is.gd/HB3m8r
The education trust fund has 621 million dollars as of june 30 2019. Do we need that much cash in the trust fund