Press "Enter" to skip to content

Turning Point: Republican Blog Calls for Rejection of Daugaard’s Education Reforms

Dakota War College is generally full of crap and Republican press releases. Wait, that's redundant....

I know, that's no way to talk about a potential political ally. DWC's pseudonymous "Bill Clay" and I clearly dislike each other's politics, and "Clay" clearly dislikes me personally.

Stop merit pay and Governor Daugaard's other bad ideas for education: sign and share this online petition today!

That's what makes DWC's call for the rejection of House Bill 1234 all the more remarkable. Yes, I said rejection. "Bill Clay" calls Governor Dennis Daugaard's education reform proposals well-intentioned, but he says we should shelve them and start over with a statewide, yearlong conversation to come up with something better:

A plan like this should be formed jointly. There are 105 legislators who all ran to serve the state and their constituents. I guarantee every single one of them wants to increase our children's test scores. Rather than Governor Daugaard proposing a bill in the manner he did, I would have preferred that he give an outline of his goals and allow the legislature to form a committee to study all of the various possibilities to enhance the education experience.

Let's work together to find the best alternative to increasing student achievement in the state of South Dakota.

My belief is that if this bill is rejected, our leaders will produce a much sounder bill with input from a diverse group of interested individuals [an author who continues to hide his real name, "Start Over on Daugaard Education Proposal," Dakota War College, 2012.02.17].

Drop HB 1234, convene a task force to study real problems in and real solutions for South Dakota's K-12 public schools: that's the same thing House Minority Leader Bernie Hunhoff is calling for. That's the same thing my online petition calls for.

When Hunhoff, Heidelberger, and Dakota War College are on the same page, you know a plan is in trouble.

"Bill Clay" adds this observation on public sentiment:

I haven't talked to one person who is outright supportive of the education proposal as currently written. Many conservative educators I know who are active in conservative causes have problems with this bill [DWC, 2012.02.17].

"Bill Clay" appears to find the same popular opinion that my poll three weeks ago did: hardly anyone outside of the Governor's inner circle sees HB 1234 as a rock-'em-sock'-em solution for whatever vaguely defined problems our schools may face.

On February 7, DWC initially offered a mixed response to the original HB 1234. DWC then expressed agreement with me on February 9 that the new "compromise" to give $8000 bonuses to rookie math and science teachers won't improve our K-12 system. Now DWC has shown that even faithful GOP conservatives can be moved to the "No" column on HB 1234. Let's hope we can find some Senators and, if another House vote is necessary, seven Republicans whom we can persuade the same course of logic.

Related: Brookings school board president Steve Bayer calls HB 1234 "fiscally irresponsible" and "a poor use of tax dollars." In the same Brookings Register article, Brookings superintendent Roger DeGroot says nearly 80% of South Dakota's K-12 superintendents oppose HB 1234. The other 20%, I speculate, are hoping for some kind of bonus from the Governor.

Update 10:42 MST: Spearfish High School principal Steve Morford makes public his negative opinion of HB 1234:

I have seen nothing to show me that any part of the bill will improve student achievement, classroom effectiveness, teacher performance or education in general. There is little, if any, evidence that merit pay produces any statistically relevant change in student achievement. In fact, there is abundant research indicating that merit pay plans do not increase student achievement. The plan does not reward teachers for student achievement. It rewards teachers for competing with, rather than collaborating with each other.

... Even if amended, it will be difficult to make this bill a good one. I heard this statement - "when you change something that is bad in the first place, it usually just becomes another form of bad" [Steve Morford, "Educational Issues," Black Hills Pioneer, 2012.02.18].

Steve Morford isn't just my boss; he was South Dakota's Principal of the Year in 2011.

Update 11:16 MST: I take friends wherever I can find them. Rep. Stace Nelson (R-25/Fulton) sounds ready to vote against HB 1234 if he gets the chance:

Rep. Nelson missed Monday's House vote due to health issues.

7 Comments

  1. Sue P 2012.02.18

    Cory
    District 34 legislators heard a great deal of the same information after school yesterday. Educators shared concerns, considerations, and other options for HB 1234, fairly consistent message to vote NO and start over with a stronger focus on overall education funding. There are far too many missteps in the bill to fix in less than two weeks.

    Not sure Rep. Lust was swayed any but hope Sen. Tieszen and Rep. Sly were able to realize the depth of concern and height of frustration teachers are feeling, particularly as the Rapid City school district looks to cut $4.3M from its budget because of last year's reduction in education dollars.

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.02.18

    Good work, Sue! We have to make clear to these legislators that HB 1234 is not the people's will, and it's not good policy. It sounds like you made some progress in getting that message across to at least a couple legislators. Keep it up!

  3. Stace Nelson 2012.02.19

    I have had concerns about the proposal since continuing contracts were mischaracterized as "tenure" and overemphasis was placed on SD having a hard time getting rid of "bad teachers" when no such problem exists.

    I have not received one correspondence from one educator, one administrator, one school board member, or one parent in my district that is for this bill. Additionally, I saw how great (heavy sarcasm) merit pay worked within the federal government which has spent fortune after fortunate trying to perfect an imperfect idea to be imposed on imperfect circumstances.

    I am for increasing funding to education and for giving local control to schools so they have the flexibility to hire and retain the great teachers we see working across this great state.

    Unless the Senate makes some magical changes to the bill, I will remain opposed to it.

    I would ask that all pay close attention to any amendments offered and please let us know if they push the bill into a place that it is positive for our state education system.

    There is the same push from last year on this that was seen on '11's HB 1230, not drinking the Kool Aid though on this one after the buyers remorse on HB 1230.

  4. Michael Black 2012.02.19

    The whole bill is unnecessary legislation.

  5. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.02.19

    Thank you, Rep. Nelson, for your honest assessment of this bill, and for sharing with us the strong opposition to HB 1234 that you're hearing from your constituents. The Governor needs to listen to the people.

  6. troy jones 2012.02.20

    It is amazing how we will characterize those with whom we agree and disagree.

    Cory, what makes my assessment less honest than Stace's?

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.02.20

    Well, for one thing, you're wrong, Troy.

Comments are closed.