GOP Scorecard Says Referred Law 16 Violates GOP Platform; Maybe True, But Thin

To address the difficulty of interpreting the new anonymously distributed "Republican Platform Voting Scorecard," let's look at how it scores just one of the dozens of bills sampled, the bill we love to hate, House Bill 1234. This bill was probably written by Republicans at ALEC headquarters, proposed by the Republicans in Governor Daugaard's office, and passed strictly by Republicans. It enshrines pieces of the Republican war on public education into South Dakota law, unless we stop it at the polls next month by voting no on its ballot incarnation, Referred Law 16!

Yet the new scorecard declares a vote for HB 1234/RL 16 to be a vote against the South Dakota Republican Party Platform. It declares three platform violations:

1. Preamble, paragraph 1
2. Plank 3.5
3. Plank 4.3

Now I'm happy to make the argument that HB 1234 is not Republican, but pointing to the first paragraph of the preamble is one of the weakest ways to do it. Here's that paragraph:

The South Dakota Republican Party believes that the fundamental principles of the Republican Party are rooted in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of South Dakota. The Party supports the preservation of our Republic, its ideals and institutions for the good of all Americans and adamantly opposes the erosion of these cherished freedoms [SDGOP Platform 2012].

Cross out "Republican," and you've got boilerplate for darn near any political party. Heck, I could frame a Marxist critique of HB 1234 in terms of the Declaration of Independence, the state and federal constitutions, and preservation of the Republic.

The scorecard authors don't make clear their critique, but they include with the planks a citation of Article 3 Section 21 of the state constitution, which requires every bill address only one subject in its title. That's a word game, not a hard policy critique that 99 out of a hundred voters will grok. But if we're going to attack Referred Law 16 and Republicans for unconstitutional behavior, we should at least do so on the firmer ground suggested by Donald Pay last March.

We could find a stronger platform critique in Preamble paragraphs 5 and 6:

...We believe the most effective and responsible government is government closest to the people.

The South Dakota Republican Party believes the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations. The best government is that which governs least [SDGOP Platform 2012].

Referred Law 16 moves more decisions away from local school districts to state government; i.e., it moves government farther from the people. It creates more government in the form of more state rules and more state bureaucracy.

The second part of the platform cited by the scorecard, Plank 3.5, requires more interpretive heavy lifting to indict Republicans who support Referred Law 16.

The South Dakota Republican Party reaffirms that parents, being the primary nurturers, are responsible for financial support, moral training, education, childcare and discipline of their children [SDGOP Platform 2012].

I oppose Referred Law 16 as staunchly as anyone in South Dakota. But even I have trouble seeing how the specific provisions of Referred Law 16 undermine the status of parents as primary nurturers. The bill doesn't specify any changes in how we teachers teach, discipline, or or otherwise care for students. It doesn't reduce parental choice of options like open enrollment or home school. It certainly doesn't expand us teachers' authority over children. Any infringement on parental rights lies in the removal of local control by the school district that parents elect... but that local electoral control is not the focus of this platform plank. Plank 3.5 falls under "Health and Human Services," not "Education."

That "local control" argument pointed at education in Plank 4.3, the closest the GOP Platform Voting Scorecard comes to hitting the nail on the head on Referred Law 16:

The South Dakota Republican Party supports parental choice and local control in education in our state... [SDGOP Platform 2012].

The scorecard is saying the same thing over and over, pointing to three places in the platform that appear to support local control. Maybe they go for a bonus issue with the rest of Plank 4.3:

...The South Dakota Republican Party opposes any further state mandated adoption of what are generally known as "˜Common Core Standards' in areas of academic study in our K-12 schools beyond what has currently been adopted and acknowledges those decisions should be made at the discretion of each individual school district [SDGOP Platform 2012].

I can tell you from my experience here at Spearfish High School that the Common Core Standards are already barreling through the policy machine to dictate what we teach and what your kids learn. Common Core is driving the composition of the standardized tests we give. Referred Law 16, with the state mandate that all teacher be evaluated on the basis of their students' standardized test scores, will only further cement slavish adherence to the Common Core Standards on those tests. If the GOP hates Common Core, that would make a heck of a reason not to vote for Referred Law 16.

But the scorecard doesn't lay that out for us. I have to do that work for them. And again, that work probably only catches the ear of one out of a hundred Republicans.

Republicans of good conscience can argue that Referred Law 16 aligns with their platform. They could cite Plank 4.1, which calls for making our students globally competitive and keeping education a high priority. They could cite Plank 3.2's call for "market-based reforms," which could vaguely refer to merit pay and math/science bonuses (although that would be the same misapplication of a plank from the "Health and Human Services" section that the scorecard commits in citing Plank 3.5). Proponents could point to the Preamble and say Referred Law 16's merit pay "recognizes the free enterprise and the work ethic of our people." Parsing the platform and Referred Law 16 thus won't help us determine who's "really" Republican.

Throwing out platform plank numbers will entertain a few political junkies and the folks who will be at the post-election leadership caucus. But it won't knock the wind out of the leadership's sails or strengthen our schools. Beating down the leadership's bad legislation at the polls will do both. My RINO-hunting friends could do more concrete good for South Dakota and for their cause with less effort by helping me tell everyone, "Referred Law 16 wastes money on policy that won't work. It will hurt our kids and our schools. That's not Republican or Democrat; that's just dumb. Vote No on 16!"