Dibs on #1 bill for the Senate goes to Senator Michael Rohl (R-1/Aberdeen), who strikes the hopper early to please the all-important Northerners among his Hub City constituents. His Senate Bill 1, posted Friday, would give school counselors a 50% discount on tuition at our Regental institutions.
SB 1 makes counselors eligible for the reduced tuition benefit already available to teachers and vocational instructors. The break applies to a maximum of six credits per year, undergraduate or graduate. Courses taken for half-tuition must satisfy employment requirements or professional certification. Counselors, just like teachers, would have to earn at least a 3.0 GPA in any course for which the state covers the other half of tuition.
The Legislature enacted this tuition break for teachers in 1993.
Senator Rohl has enlisted Senators Jim Bolin (R-16/Canton) and Tim Reed (R-7/Brookings) as co-sponsors. On the House side, Republican Representatives Taylor Rehfeldt and Tyler Tordsen (both from District 14, Sioux Falls) and Democratic Representatives Linda Duba (D-15/Sioux Falls) and Eric E. Emery (D-26A/Rosebud) as co-sponsors.
This bill does not make up for it being bad economic sense to keep one’s employment in public education in SD — not nearly.
South Dakota sucks at higher education. Why? Because Republicans suck at education.
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2023/12/15/researchers-look-at-how-to-help-more-community-college-students-gain-four-year-degrees/
Courting wage slaves is South Dakota’s hope so any registered nurse with at least half a brain will leave for Minnesota, Colorado or the Southwest the instant they graduate so the work force in South Dakota just gets stupider and more Republican.
Save even more and attend a tuition-free college.
https://www.collegeconsensus.com/rankings/best-tuition-free-colleges/
South Dakota Democrats you would love New Mexico.
https://hed.nm.gov/news/new-mexico-college-enrollment-on-the-rise-for-second-year-in-a-row-thanks-to-opportunity-scholarship
The attacks on higher education from the extreme white wing seem to be working.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/12/18/fewer-young-men-are-in-college-especially-at-4-year-schools/