Good wonderful evening everyone; it is days like today that make you really like living in South Dakota. Plenty of sunshine, nice temperatures, and light breezes; combine that with harvest season, leaves changing colors and seeing your breath in the morning--now that is what I call a fantastic day. Those are the types of days that get people to move to South Dakota. I hope everyone got to enjoy it in some way or another. Tomorrow promises to be different and so does Thursday and so on and so on for the days to follow; as we all know; SD Weather never stays the same for too long.
One thing that has been consistent over the last several years in SD has been funding for public education and the decreasing teacher pool. Thursday (October 1st) will bring those things back into the public's attention as the famed "Blue Ribbon Task Force" meets (for what might be the final time) in Pierre to discuss a number of different issues. Two items on the agenda that will garner major attention will be the school funding model and school revenue sources. Being an educator my opinion is clearly bias; being a South Dakotan my opinion only represents one vote; being a parent of school age children my opinion only becomes more bias but I have an opinion that I want to share, even if it only allows me to vent.
My opinion is very simple: "Something different needs to be done for public schools in South Dakota". Data indicates we are clearly behind in state funding and that gap will only continue to grow if we remain status quo; fewer and fewer young adults are choosing to become teachers (not that I can blame them). We are becoming a state that seems to value education less every year; our state policy makers are more concerned about saving money (often at the cost of education) than finding ways to increase opportunities for education. Maybe we need to look at education as an investment instead of an expense. It is a well accepted fact that students who complete a high school diploma make more money than those who do not, and making more money means spending more money, which means more money for the state to collect in sales tax. Maybe we should blame the educators in South Dakota; how dare they continue to do more work for the same (or less) pay and still have high achieving students. What are they thinking; no wonder the state policy makers still push to take advantage of them and their merits. There a lot of different places to look to when trying find excuses but let's stay positive and focus on the future.
The state of South Dakota needs approximately $100 million in new money for education just to drew even in regional salaries, that does not count any new increases regional states will add the upcoming fiscal year. That doesn't count any normal increases in other school expenses, it only counts salaries. Those dollars need to be ongoing and sustainable, not one time money that only provide short term relief. In order to make this happen state policy makers need to make conscious and thoughtful decisions about the formula and the revenue sources. To add that large amount a minor fix or small tweak to the current formula and/or revenue will not provide the needed relief. Education needs a forceful effort from all policy makers/decisions makers in Pierre to make that happen. The upcoming legislative season is a prime opportunity to push for those changes.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force will present something after their final meeting; I just hope they are willing to take the huge leap and purpose significant changes to both the formula and revenue options. I then hope the governor, legislators and other policy makers follow suit and push for legislative action during the upcoming session to make those changes real. My biggest worry is what it will "cost" education to get those dollars. Everyone needs to forget about who wins and who loses and focus on what is best for our kids. They need to be the winners.
Good luck to all the BRTF members and don't be afraid to be bold, be decisive and think big. Legislators and government officials don't allow the two months after the BRTF ends to cloud your judgement and draw your attention to other venues. This is something that needs to be dealt with now while it is at the forefront of public attention.
Your in education,
Michael Kroll
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