It's not just Democrats running for State Legislature who are making campaign hay of Governor Daugaard's wildly unpopular education reform package. De Smet Republican Jay BK Slater, who is running for District 22 House, does me the courtesy of mentioning that he opposes House Bill 1234 for its debilitation of school district rights. Slater also says he's hearing rumors that his position on HB 1234 has drawn the Governor into supporting his primary opponents, Dick Werner and David McGirr. (Send me receipts on that one, Jay!)
Meanwhile, Mitchell school board candidates also sound displeased with HB 1234:
Speaking about HB1234 [Ed] Potlzer said personal experience as a manager showed him that merit pay, one aspect of the bill, creates problems and can be "demoralizing to staff." [Theresa] Kriese expressed the belief that any state mandate should also come with funding, and [Craig] Guymon said any merit pay system would only perpetuate a system of power consolidation and cronyism [Ross Dolan, "Guymon Inflames School Board Forum with Pledge to Fire Superintendent," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2012.05.16].
I get the feeling [hat tip to Nathan Johnson!] that Mitchell superintendent Joe Graves's misguided support for HB 1234 is the least of Guymon's reasons for calling for terminating Dr. Graves's contract. But I'm glad to see candidates of varying political stripes and aspirations finding agreement that HB 1234 is bad for our kids and our schools.
Ok, Slater, a hypothetical: you learn that SDDENR is a political organization obfuscating the impairment of the Big Sioux River watershed. Would you take the
bribescampaign contributions offered you by Monsanto and Syngenta even though those corporations are ecocidal criminals?I do not take special interest donations which might be why I have such limited campaign funds. Bit difficult to run on platform against special interest and big money that are detrimental to our state political process and then be hypocritical and accept such funds. You threw a lot of data at me so I will have to take more time to dig through it. I don't eat fish out of Hwy81 sloughs due to mercury and periodically search for incident rates for cancer (numbers seem high for our little town on the prairie). I worry about my lab getting killed by phosphate "blue" algae and discoloration on my sailboat hulls. If you really want to know more about our district and all candidates for our primary here is today's discussion. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22697229
Democrat candidates(second 40 min portion) do address some issues regarding flooding in watersheds and I believe Doug Kazmerzak brings up some valid points. Looking forward to your constructive criticism.
This, too, will pass, Mr. Slater: flee the earth hater party and join us...or we'll sail circles around you.
Ooo, video link! Yum!
I seem to be having trouble pulling video from the link I posted but Performance Radios Zach Nelson also posted it. http://www.performance-radio.com/blog/2012/05/19/primary-forum-held-saturday/
Even though my primary opponents stated displeasure with HB 1234 they support some aspects. I oppose the entire bill and am confident I am the only HD22 Republican candidate circulating referendum petitions for our voters to have their voice heard. The question regarding ALEC was also raised and after reviewing their national government agenda for education we need to step back and do what is right for SD and get off the national agenda train. What may be applicable to address other states education systems is not the answer for SD education improvements.