Mike Knudson of Sioux Falls isn't the only candidate who sees opposition to the Governor's agenda (vendetta?) against education as part of a winning campaign strategy. My Brookings friends let me know that Democrat Pam Merchant wants to return to the State Senate, and she has hit the papers with opposition to both House Bill 1234 and Senate Bill 25. HB 1234 is the really bad hodgepodge of merit pay and other policies that faces a referendum petition drive. SB 25 is the less attended rewrite of the state's accountability policy for K-12 schools that recognizes the passing of No Child Left Behind while still keeping in place all the NCLB madness of standardized tests and centralization. Merchant criticizes both bills as further restriction of local control over education.
Merchant won't get quite as much electoral mileage out of the education argument as Knudson. Her likely opponent, incumbent GOP Senator Larry Tidemann, sensibly voted against HB 1234. He supported the less controversial SB 25 in three votes (Appropriations Committee, original Senate vote, and Senate vote to concur with amendments).