That darned liberal Jerry Brown took away one of Dennis Daugaard's talking points when he erased California's budget deficit two years ago. What's California's governor up to now? Just like Governor Daugaard, Governor Brown has a balanced budget. Like Daugaard, Brown is urging restraint. But here's what "restraint" looks like in Jerry Brown's California:
- A 39% increase in state aid to education over four years. (Governor Daugaard's proposed $414 million in state aid to K-12 schools is 22.4% more than his FY2012 budget.. but remember, that was the austerity budget. Compared to five years ago, Daugaard's FY2016 budget increases state aid to education by 9.9%.)
- A new Local Control Funding Formula that directs more money to districts with more "students from foster care, low-income families and non-English-speaking parents" to address the primary factor affecting academic achievement, economic disparities. (Governor Daugaard continues to fund schools on flat headcount, only adjusting for sparsity/economies of scale.)
- A successful cap-and-trade carbon market that is helping California meet its goal of getting one third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
- New policy goals of increasing renewable energy to 50% and reducing vehicle petroleum use by 50%.
- A new focus on producing distributed energy and creating more resilient micro-grids to power towns when regional power systems go down (hey, Steve Hickey! How about including micro-grids in your "Long Economic Winter" planning?).
Governor Jerry Brown laid out big stuff in his fourth inaugural address, visionary stuff. Maybe Governor Daugaard will surprise us with his second inaugural address this weekend or his State of the State Address to open the 2015 Legislature on Tuesday. But so far, Daugaard has given us a care-taking vanilla budget. His biggest initiatives of the past month have continued the state's shouldering the costs of business without advancing any substantively new vision for solving South Dakota's problems.
This just proves that Brown is a visionary and a leader and Daugaard lacks both qualities.
Daugaard wants to leave things status quo so when it comes to education he can pass the buck to local school boards and say it is their fault that teachers are paid last in the nation.
Daugaard is no leader. His only concern is his business buddies and how he can make them more money.
Brown on the other hand is and has always has been a leader.
We are ruled by republicans, nothing visionary to see here.
Daugaard is not a leader at all ... especially regarding public education. Like his predecessor, DD is more interested in helping big business and the GOP stay in power. Move along, move along ... nothing to see here.
Corey, you better check with your education friends in CA before riding this dead horse much further. Brown and the CA legislature balanced the budget by not funding the enormous deficits in the teachers and state employees pension funds, now at over $584 billion and growing by $20 million a day. Not singling him out, GOP legislators were equally complicit.
California is no longer the joke of conservatives it once was due to sound liberal governance. Gov. Moonbeam did what Arnold couldn't. PS...Hey, conservatives! They're not illegal or aliens any longer. ha ha ha Find another dehumanizing epithet.
Understood, mhs! I see there's plenty of debate over the pension action, shifting some budget burdens on those workers.
DD could do with some moonbeams. Might improve his miopic banker's vision of what will actually increase economic development in SD.
And following up in Gov. Brown's vision, the White House announced today that President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address that those willing to work for it can attend the first two years of community college for free.
MN's Gov. Dayton is making a similar proposal regarding 2 years of education. I'm for it.
"President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address that those willing to work for it can attend the first two years of community college for free."
That means corporation don't have to pay for on the job training. And does "free" include rent, food, and other costs that are paid for by a pay check? You liberals are so easily deceived by the crony capitalists.
Did Sibson say something significant? I don't read anything he comments on.
Roger, that was a joke. Right?
Deb,
Sort of a joke, but seriously folks.................
Deb & Roger, sorry you are having trouble with reality. Handouts are not free.
Sibson, your reality is damn scary thing, more like fantasy.
Congrats Cory, Daily Kos has said good things about you.http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/10/1356535/-This-week-at-progressive-state-blogs-Praising-Solyndra-loan-program-CA-s-Brown-v-SD-s-Daugaard?showAll=yes
Second Jerry's comment. I believe this is the second mention on DK. Keep up the good work.