Hey, Yankton neighbors! If that school opt-out campaign doesn't have you all politicked out, kick your weekend off with a rollicking town hall with Rep. Kristi Noem!
According to KYNT, our Congresswoman will swing by the Regional Technical Education Center in Yankton on Friday (May 20! tomorrow!) to listen. Spoksedude Josh Shields says the event will start at 5:30 p.m.... although I know a lot of folks in Vermillion who might delay the Congresswoman with an earful at her 3:15 at Vermillion High School. And Rep. Noem is surely eager to stay and listen to every one of her constituents, so please be patient... and don't make Kristi feel like she has to hurry to get things done.
And would you look at that: Rep. Noem manages to give more than 24 hours' notice of this meeting by placing it on her official Events webpage! Her staff must have finally found the Post-It note where they wrote the website login and password. Oooo... the Yankton gig is on Twitter, too! Thanks for listening, kids!
* * *
Vermillion and Yankton neighbors, if you're looking for something to ask Kristi about, read this devastating critique of Rep. Paul Ryan's budget. Yeah, yeah, Noem voted for it and thus voted to end Medicare and gut Medicaid. But the Ryan budget that Noem has loved since last year's campaign also kills federal education funding. Not just cuts it, but eventually kills it:
...The biggest short-term cuts, however, would hit WI-1's (Ryan's Congressional district) public-school system, which would watch its federal funding plummet 53 percent over the next eight years, from $72 million to $34 million.
Federal education money is usually allocated to areas with elevated poverty levels, so Ryan's reductions would hurt his district's largest cities (like Racine) the most. But smaller towns wouldn't be spared. If federal funding for Burlington's 3,500-student school system were to fall from its current level ($1.52 million) to the 2021 level estimated under Ryan's plan ($712,655), the district would be forced to raid its regular budget to prevent devastating cuts to special education, reading assistance, staff development, and subsidized lunch programs—a shuffle that might then force administrators to "reduce staff, expand class sizes, and eliminate clubs, activities, and arts and music classes," says superintendent David Moyer. Contemplating the changes, Moyer sounds distraught. "I know we're facing a fiscal crunch, and I'm not trying to put my head in the sand," he says. "But we wouldn't be able to recapture this money locally. It would really compromise what we do." And the situation would only get worse. By 2050, there would be no money—zero—in Ryan's budget for education, research, infrastructure, or anything else. Just health care, Social Security, and defense [emphasis mine; Andrew Romano, "Paul Ryan Barbecues His Backyard," The Daily Beast, 2011.05.16].
No money in the federal budget for education. Go ahead, Kristi. Tell us why that's a good idea. We're listening.
Out of town for Grandfathers funeral and mothers birthday. I will leave the questions to Chris and Leo and Ben!
I will be working, but I trust she'll get some good questions.