Governor Dennis Daugaard, busy brushing on on his Mandarin elocution for his big trip to China, offers this muted initial response to the hip-hoppity-yahoo news that SDEA is planning a petition drive to put HB 1234 to a public vote:
This bill will invest $15 million a year in teacher pay, with lots of local control as to how the dollars are spent to advance student achievement [Governor Dennis Daugaard, statement, 2012.03.07].
That's the Governor's whole statement. It's also wholly false. This bill does not appropriate one penny for teacher pay. The GOP leadership made darn sure it didn't appropriate money so they could squeak the bill through on a majority vote instead of a two-thirds vote.
Expect the Governor to kick into full spin mode when he gets back from China. You know how referenda and participatory democracy just disgust him.
Did they actually fund it? I did not hear if that money got appropriated in this year's budget. If they have not funded it, how do we lose the 15 million in teacher pay if it was not there? Curious questions I have, I hope someone has some answers.
Can SD Governors be recalled?
HB 1234 appropriates no money. The money actually allocated to K-12 schools for the coming school year is in SB 124, the annual adjustment to the state aid. That amount: $4,498.24 per student, a 2.38% increase over last year... but 0.77% less than state aid per student five years ago. I wish I were paying the same for my groceries, gasoline, and health insurance that I was five years ago.
Recall? Nope. We can only recall certain local officials, like mayors. Nothing statewide.
You are not much of a leader if you can't find the money for the silly ideas you come up with. But then good leaders don't come up with silly ideas.
The biggest tool of the New World Order is deception. Add $15 million to the school aid formula or lower the local effort and give taxpayers money to stimulate the economy or both. That would be local control. The SDGOP talking point that argues we changed the bill to include complaints is total BS too.
Sigh. Can we have this argument without saying things no one else in South Dakota understands or needs to understand?