SD Among First to Apply for More Coronavirus Relief Funding for Education

Republican fears of inflation and indoctrination brought about by infusions of federal dollars into South Dakota’s economy (not to mention a supposed budget surplus and our rejection of Communism) didn’t stop us from being one of the first states to  apply for and accept federal coronavirus relief funds for pay for our schools. Of the seven states approved this week for American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, South Dakota tied with Texas in submitting the earliest beg letters on June 3, beating other states to the trough by four days. Liberal Communist states Minnesota and California haven’t even submitted plans yet (or at least they aren’t posted on the USDOE’s website).

Evidently South Dakota needs $127 million more on top of the $255 million in ARP ESSER funding released to South Dakota in March to (1) “support[] strong pedagogy and educational opportunities”, (2) “address[] students’ social-emotional and mental health needs”, and (3) “continu[e] to address issues of educator recruitment and retention.”

#3 should be of particular policy interest. The current recruitment and retention policy that our state DOE lauds in the application is the half-cent sales tax to raise teacher pay enacted in 2016. Does the state plan to translate some portion of this $127 million into hiring bonuses for new teachers, or maybe retention bonuses for everyone at the K-12 whiteboard? $42 million divided among 9,760 teachers would goose every teacher’s paycheck by $4,300. That would be a nice thank to our teachers for forcing them to work in person during a pandemic.

But South Dakota’s application doesn’t specify how it would use the money to recruit and retain teachers amidst the Big Quit. Our DOE tells the feds we aren’t even sure the pandemic affected our teaching workforce:

Within the last six years, South Dakota has taken proactive steps to address educator recruitment and retention challenges. The pandemic likely will exacerbate some of those challenges; therefore, understanding the pandemic’s true impact on the education workforce will be paramount. That understanding will drive innovative strategies that will target both traditional students coming out of teacher preparation programs and individuals interested in entering the teaching field through an alternative pathway. The department expects strategies in this area to build upon existing efforts established in 2016 with passage of historic legislation (i.e., Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students). That legislation resulted in a half-cent sales tax with revenues going to the state’s school funding formula – specifically, to support raising teacher salaries statewide. In related recruitment/retention efforts, the department developed a statewide mentoring program for first- and second-year teachers; facilitated entry into the teaching profession through alternative certification routes; partnered with School Administrators of South Dakota to mentor new principals; and partnered with Black Hills State University to offer two cohorts of paraprofessionals working in high-needs schools the opportunity to earn a teaching degree and certification [South Dakota Department of Education, application for ARP ESSER funds, 2021.06.03].

Likely translation: We’ll spend this money keeping our DOE staff busy doing surveys. If any money is left, we’ll dump it into things we’re already doing, plus a nice marketing campaign.

Our DOE says it will use some of the new money to help Indian students, English-language learners, and other kids from disadvantaged groups catch up on what they missed while stuck in online learning, which the DOE contends wasn’t a good alternative for students in disadvantaged groups. I know this horse has long since left the barn, but if we had spent more of our first round of coronavirus relief dollars building more safe and robust online education, we wouldn’t have to spend as much of this round of coronavirus relief money on remedial education.

The state DOE notes that, in its ideological focus on keeping schools open for in-person instruction, it didn’t even bother to set up a system to track how many students were moving to online or hybrid learning:

The department purposefully chose not to collect mode of instruction data during the 2020-21 school year for two reasons. First, the SEA had asked schools to commit to providing in-person instruction, to the fullest extent possible, and wanted school leaders, teachers and staff to concentrate their time and efforts on that priority. Second, the state-provided student management system was not set up to track mode of instruction. Therefore, the department chose to issue one comprehensive survey to all accredited schools at the end of the school year. This year-end COVID Impact Survey included questions on school participation in each mode of instruction.

…At the state level, the student information system does not have the ability to disaggregate student enrollment or attendance data by mode of instruction. The department is currently exploring options for capturing the data described above by mode of instruction [SDDOE, 2021.06.03].

But hey, that $127 million is coming, and whether through the paychecks of DOE beancounters, teacher retention bonuses, extra teachers hired for remedial programs, or truancy officers, those dollars will stimulate our economy and keep South Dakota from having to foot its own bill for its public education system. Yay, big government!