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Education in the State Legislature
By Jason | April 6, 2009
The below column was published as a Guest Editorial in The Watertown Public Opinion:
I had a unique vantage point during this past Legislative Session. The floors of either Chamber were always accessible; inside the Democrat caucus; walking the hallways and lobbies of our Capitol; watching the Inauguration of President Obama from one of the recently-remodeled committee rooms; or even looking down on Pierre from inside the Capitol Dome. Many people would remind me that I would be on a steep learning curve in my first year of serving in the Legislature. I enjoyed the challenge, and I am sure it helped that my father and grandfather shared some of their institutional knowledge with me.
Representatives for all levels of education were always present and available for assistance to us as lawmakers. When I ran for the State House I selected “Investing in Education” as my most important plank. Throughout the Session I would ask myself if I was working towards that goal.
Governor Rounds announced in his revised Budget that he would be cutting a grant programs assisting schools that offer Career and Technical Education (CTE). These programs provided additional State funds to our local school districts over and above the per student allocation. Governor Rounds also had proposed freezing the mill levies. Between these two issues Rounds was granted his request to cut the grant program for CTE; but the Legislature won on rolling back mill levies. I voted to keep the CTE grant program intact, and I also voted to roll back the mill levies which will lessen the burden on local taxpayers.
The sparsity funding was our major “school funding” battle that we had on the floor of the House. North-central and western South Dakota Republicans were working with all of us Democrats to try and restore 100% of the sparse-school funding. Unfortunately the Governor only wanted 75% funding of sparsity, so the bill was amended to reflect his wishes. The leaders on fighting for full funding were not quite sure if they would have the votes to override a Governor veto.
In closing since the focus of this column is on education I better mention the issue of tech school governance. During the Session our Tech School leaders traveled many times to Pierre to monitor, testify in subcommittee, and to attend the House Education committee. They were all adamantly opposed to the Governor’s plan to take Executive Branch control of our four technical institutes. As a result of this strong opposition, the Governor’s Bill only received one vote of support in the House Education committee, so it was virtually dead on arrival. I hope this issue is silenced forever because our Tech School leaders are working hard to build industry and community support for their progressive building projects and the bright future that Technical Education has in South Dakota!
Rep. Jason Frerichs (D-Wilmot) is a farmer/rancher and an instructor in the Agriculture Department of Lake Area Tech. You can reach him at www.jasonfrerichs.com or rep.frerichs@state.sd.us.
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