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SDPB Radio Coverage of the South Dakota Legislature. See all coverage and find links to audio and video streams live from the Capitol at www.sdpb.org/statehouse

Lawmakers Address Education Funding Ideas

Kealey Bultena
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SDPB
State Rep. Paula Hawks (D) and State Sen. Billie Sutton (D) discuss their concerns with the final report from the Blue Ribbon Task Force.

Some lawmakers on South Dakota’s education task force say they hoped for a more specific funding plan. The report from the Blue Ribbon committee includes many precise recommendations. Some members say the final numbers don’t go far enough.

The governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on education funding is made up of two dozen people from state government, education, and the private sector. A 34-page final report details the panel’s findings on K-12 education in South Dakota. It includes adding at least $75 million to schools’ general funds and changing the formula the state uses to distribute tax dollars.

Republican State Senator Deb Soholt says members did not reach consensus on all of the recommendations but the report is comprehensive.

Credit South Dakota State Legislature
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South Dakota State Legislature
State Sen. Deb Soholt (R)

“Our task was to provide recommendations for further statute development, and I believe that’s what we did as a task force,” Soholt says. “Now we can get to the finer points of really putting meat on the bones, but I think we were very specific in what we wanted to do: to raise the teachers’ salaries, to do a teacher-student ratio, to put caps on reserves, to look at the pension levy differently, to provide an academy for new teachers, to provide mentoring dollars, to put more money into innovation for learning so we can deliver virtual educators and specialists to any corner of our state so any of our children would great education.”

Soholt co-chaired the committee.

Democratic State Senator Billie Sutton says the task force report does include many detailed elements, but he says the panel left some major portions for the governor to decide. That includes the best student-to-teacher ratio.

“I think that we needed to drill down on that more and make a specific recommendation as well as a specific dollar amount,” Sutton says. “I realize that we put a floor on it, but we talk about being specific, but that’s just a floor. That’s not a specific dollar amount that education needs. I think that we needed to drill down a little bit more on capital outlay. Now with that being said, we have made a lot of specific recommendation, but some of those larger ticket items I think we needed to be more specific on.”

Democratic lawmakers say they’re working on an alternative plan to solidify the reforms they want to improve statewide education funding.

State Representative Paula Hawks says the report is a recommendation to Governor Dennis Daugaard. She says he be a leader by acknowledging South Dakota’s challenge with a teacher shortage and educator salaries.

"Best case scenario is him stepping up and saying, ‘Let’s bring ourselves to a position where we are not last in our region – much less last in our nation – and let’s fully fund this plan that we have, that we can pull our teachers up to being competitive within our region with our bordering states. Let’s fully fund the plan, let’s fully fund improving education and keeping our teachers here and giving them a reason to want to be teachers in South Dakota and to stay teachers in South Dakota," Hawks says.

All three legislators say the fact that lawmakers and stakeholder are acknowledging challenges is a positive for K-12 education.

Read the final report from the Blue Ribbon Task Force.

Listen to a long-form discussion with Sens. Soholt and Sutton from Tuesday's Dakota Midday at this SDPBlink.

Kealey Bultena grew up in South Dakota, where her grandparents took advantage of the state’s agriculture at nap time, tricking her into car rides to “go see cows.” Rarely did she stay awake long enough to see the livestock, but now she writes stories about the animals – and the legislature and education and much more. Kealey worked in television for four years while attending the University of South Dakota. She started interning with South Dakota Public Broadcasting in September 2010 and accepted a position with television in 2011. Now Kealey is the radio news producer stationed in Sioux Falls. As a multi-media journalist, Kealey prides herself on the diversity of the stories she tells and the impact her work has on people across the state. Kealey is always searching for new ideas. Let her know of a great story! Find her on Facebook and twitter (@KealeySDPB).