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NEA Gives $523K to Fight Referred Law 16; SDEA Puts Money on Four Republicans

The National Education Association has contributed $523,000 to the effort to defeat Referred Law 16 here in South Dakota. That's over 97% of the No campaign's war chest.

Pat Powers points out the NEA's involvement, which in the world of the GOP spin machine means that voting No on 16 makes you a tool of the evil teachers' union.

If you suffer from that sort of pathological teacher-advocacy antipathy, you'll also have vote against the following Republican Legislative candidates, who have received contributions from the South Dakota Educators Political Involvement Committee, the political arm of the South Dakota Education Association:

GOP candidate Race SDEPIC Contribution
Burt Tulson House 2 $300
Bob Deelstra House 9 $300
Jim Bolin House 16 $300
Kyle Schoenfish House 19 $300

SDEPIC's bipartisanism is pretty thin: only one in twelve of their beneficiaries are Republicans, and they don't make the A-team of candidates who get $2200 donations. Those four GOP recipients get 2% of the $56,200 SDEPIC has spread around in Legislative races this fall. But if you're a Dakota War College reader, you have to view these four Republicans with suspicion.

But here's what makes me suspicious: the NEA is shorting South Dakota in the effort to protect teachers and students from knuckleheaded education policy. We only get a half million; in Idaho, the NEA is fighting similar anti-teacher ballot measures with $1.83 million.

NEA's more than treble investment in the Idaho race suggests three conclusions:

  1. TV time costs three times as much in Boise as in Sioux Falls.
  2. The NEA figures South Dakota matters much less than Idaho.
  3. The NEA and SDEA have polling data saying the majority of South Dakotans already have the good gosh darn sense to vote down Referred Law 16!

I welcome others to search for the data to substantiate #1 and #2. My conversations and hopes point toward #3. You don't need NEA to tell you that Referred Law 16 is bad policy, a dysfunctional solution for problems that don't exist in South Dakota education. Vote No on 16!