Mr. Dahle's pessimism be darned, Displaced Plainsman and Madville Times win! Well, sort of....
Validating a public policy position I've been advocating for years, President Barack Obama is getting the feds off South Dakota's back and making it possible for South Dakota to get out of the failed No Child Left Behind. Please note that this restoration of state control is not coming from Rep. Kristi Noem or Congress; it is coming from an Administration that Noem et al. need you to believe is dedicated to bigger government in all things.
Our South Dakota Department of Education is striving mightily to replace complicated, unrealistic federal mandates with complicated, perhaps slightly more realistic state mandates. The state is unlikely to adopt my plan, which is to hire good teachers, pay them well, and let them do what they know is best for kids. But President Obama is making possible a step in the right direction, away from No Child Left Behind.