Simplified: Several Sioux Falls School Board members expressed frustration with the recent South Dakota legislative session and the various bills aimed at harming public schools. They spent several minutes during Monday's meeting asking the public to help them advocate for local kids, urging folks to vote in local elections, and in the meantime, asking them to contact their state and federal lawmakers.
Why it matters
- The Sioux Falls School District spent a lot of the recent legislative session "playing defense," as Business Manager Todd Vik put it to board members during a legislative recap at their regular meeting Monday afternoon. The district actively opposed more than 40 bills this session and supported only seven.
- Board President Carly Reiter said, with a healthy dose of sarcasm, that lawmakers "worked really hard for education this year" in things like raising the costs of dual-credit courses for high schoolers, removing funding for some educational certifications and "attempting to solve bathroom problems that don't exist."
- Board Vice President Dawn Marie Johnson shared similar frustrations, questioning who lawmakers are really representing if they're "working against average, hardworking people."
"I know that it can be easy to just not vote," Johnson said. "It's easy to skip over those days and be like, 'oh, oops, it was today,' but this is the direct result of us not engaging in our voting system."
So, what's the tea? Why are school board members mad?
A big part of it is the sheer volume of legislation apparently aimed at either cutting funding or removing local control for public schools in the state.
- Reiter listed a lot of those concerns that came up during session (see above), including:
- proposals for voucher programs that would divert money from public schools,
- requiring all districts to accept cash at school events,
- attempts to punish librarians for books checked out by kids,
- and multiple attempts to require schools to hang the Ten Commandments in classrooms, "despite the fact that many legislators struggle to abide by them themselves."
"Until we get people who go to Pierre, and are supposed to be supporting us and representing us, to actually be advocates for education, our state’s going to continue to struggle," Reiter concluded.
There's also concerns, as Board Member Nan Kelly noted, about the potential ramifications of cuts to the federal Department of Education.
"This isn’t a time to sit back and wait for the next legislative session," Kelly said. "I’d encourage anybody listening right now to contact their Congressperson and give to them some feedback, as well as their state legislators. Help us, and partner with us to do the work on behalf of all the children in our community and our state."
Megan Raposa
What happens next?
Reiter told the Argus Leader this week that she's not planning to run for re-election this spring. That leaves one vacancy on the five-member board, and voters will decide who'll fill it in the school board election on May 13. Nan Kelly's seat is also open, though she's planning to run again.
- The last day to file petitions to run for school board is April 4.
Superintendent Jane Stavem – also on her way out as leader of the district – said that she also wants to thank those lawmakers that did work to support public education during session.
"I would hope that the focus might return to the importance of supporting public schools," Stavem said, "and if you know a legislator who went to work on behalf of children be sure to thank them because that is a thankless job."
