Trailer up the skid steer – we’re going to Pierre!
l3wis 
State Legislature
SD education funding three ring circus
Democrats have said they want to cut elsewhere in state government to find money for aid to schools. Senate Democratic Leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls said state government in previous years has forced agencies to cut spending by a certain percentage, and that approach could work again.
“It’s so simple it’s amazing to me,” Heidepriem said, adding that he doesn’t believe the Republican governor is willing to control the size of state government.
It doesn’t surprise me one bit. Even when the economy was good, Rounds refused to properly fund education, now he has an excuse and he is going to run with it.
While more than 90 percent of Democrats said they wanted to boost state aid to schools by more than the 3 percent recommended by Rounds, only about a quarter of Republicans said they believed state aid should increase by more than that.
Even if the legislature gets a super-majority to be veto proof on an education bill (which I don’t see) Rounds will still find a way to overstep the legislators, just like he did with the blender pump tax and laptops (how did that work out for yah, Mike). He simply doesn’t like to be told what to do. This will be a true test for the legislators. Will the typical Republican cheerleaders like Krebs cave to their favorite state Republican? Will the Dems do more then mouth off to the media and internets about how much of a brat Mike is? (seriously, that’s my job, not yours.)
It’s time to show Rounds that he has been extremely ineffective as a governor and quite possibly, unethical (another thing legislators are too chicken-shit to do something about).
POVERTY HAS AN EFFECT ON EDUCATION FUNDING
One has to wonder though, maybe education funding is sufficient in South Dakota. Student test scores are always pretty decent, but high school dropout rates are high. One reason may be the growing problem of poverty in our state.
A couple weeks back a SF School district representative gave a presentation to the city council about poverty in Sioux Falls. Some scary stuff, here are a few highlights.
– 40% of caucasion children in the SF school district are on FREE or reduced lunches, and that number is as high as 75% in minority community.
– Supt. Dr. Homan doesn’t like to have late starts with bad weather because she wants to make sure these kids get something to eat for breakfast.
Some of the other numbers are hard to swallow to. A lot of these kids also have little winter clothing to wear, and often go hungry on the weekends. The amazing part about it is, it is not discussed much by our local or statewide politicians, it is kind of a ‘silent problem’. After the presentation, one councilor even had this to say, “Thank you for the presentation, but what is this council supposed to do with this information?” And maybe this is the problem. I think politicians think if at least 51% of people in the community are doing OKAY, we can ignore the minority. I find it ironic that Sioux Falls spends more per year on mowing an acre of parkland then they do educating a child. Who knew grass was more important than a decent education? Nice priorities, Huh? I also wonder how much money in education funding is going towards feeding, counseling and healthcare for some of these kids? Something that parents should be responsible for, that is, if they can afford it. The problem isn’t just funding education properly, it is also about creating a business atmosphere in SD that creates more living wage jobs. Government can’t create higher paying jobs, but they can help attract those kinds of businesses. Just imagine if we spent half the money we do on tourism for business development, what kind of impact that would have on the state? (of course than Lawrence and Schiller would have to go out and find real clients).
It’s time for our legislators (it’s too late for the governor) to realize the root problem of education funding – Poverty and low wages.
Are beauracrats capable of cutting spending?
Are we all just a bunch of helpless Prairie Dogs to our state legislators. Prove them wrong.
I’m starting to wonder if politicians are capable of making cuts instead of continuing tax and fee increases?
Increases in taxes and fees that would affect almost all South Dakotans are under consideration, as are cuts to a variety of services and programs.
The $3.67 billion budget Gov. Mike Rounds proposed in December would have spent down reserves and raised user fees that in some instances haven’t been touched since the 1980s.
The rest of us have been making cuts in our personal budgets, I have been for at least for the past 12 months, I would expect the same out of our government.
And the finger-pointing has already started.
Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls says the Senate already works cooperatively.
“The problem the last two years was the House,” which ceded its power to Rounds, he said. “Whether they do that again remains to be seen.”
The Republicans just don’t get it.
The problem with poking into every crevice and cranny in government is there is little to be gained, Rave said. Almost 75 percent of the budget is devoted to health, human and social services – such as Medicaid – to schools and local governments or corrections. These are areas where the state has constitutional obligations and where great amounts of federal funding are leveraged by state matching money.
What House Republican leader Tim Rave does not understand is that 25% of a $3.67 Billion dollar budget is a lot of f’ing money. Start cutting chief.
And Charlie Brown steps up to the plate, other SD Republicans need to follow his example (and I’m not just saying this because Dusty likes my site – wink, wink).
Dusty Johnson, Public Utilities Commission Chairman, said the PUC has reduced costs by doing all regulatory filings online.
This next item could be a good move in the right direction for citizens;
Secretary of State Chris Nelson has also heard rumors legislators might be asked to revise the initiative process by which citizens can get issues such as abortion, video lottery and smoking bans on the ballot,
Our legislators don’t represent us anymore. Mark my words, IMO, a total smoking ban will fail. My guess is that it will only go in effect for restaurants, and the powerful video lottery lobby will twist legislators balls into voting against banning them. It is time for citizens to stand up and say “We will decide what is best for us, because you are wasting our f’ing time.”
And let’s finish with this piece of fluff
“I think there will be some key votes in the first couple of weeks,” Heidepriem says. “I can’t predict now what they will be. But there will be clear indications whether people will lay down partisan markers or will work together.”
And once again, a politician has given himself an out. Go figure.
South DaCola’s 2009 Legislative Session wish list
– End the food/utility tax
This could easily be done by simply raising the tax .5% on non-essential goods. We could also charge the 4.5% tax on ALL non-essential items. Right now we have lower rates on certain items, this needs to be equalized.
– Implement an Advertising tax
This could help with budget shortfalls. We could also use the money to pay for roads or schools.
– Fix the weight charge on vehicles
Instead of raising registration fees across the board or implementing a gas tax fix the inequality in the weight charge. Right now people with lighter vehicles are paying a 25-50% higher rate than people with heavier vehicles? Aren’t larger vehicles causing more damage to our roads? Charge them more.
– Smoking Ban
a majority of South Dakotans don’t smoke and support this measure, don’t buckle to a handful of casino owners and lobbyists, do what the populist wants for once.
– End no-bid contracts
This is a no-brainer. Not only would this save us millions, if would eliminate conflicts of interest and the competition would result in better quality contractors.
– Bump up the Video Lottery cut to 70%.
As long as South Dakotans are willing to keep this as a funding source, we might as well get our use out of it.
– Cut state government FTE contracts by half or more
Rounds has over doubled the size of state government, but has it made services better? Nope. Just look at the Vehicle Registration debacle. Big government helps no one, it just costs us more.
– Impeach Mike Rounds
Even if you skip all the other things on this list, if you do this one first, all the others do not matter.
Apocalypse Now!
Mayhem Mike Rounds warns us again about the economy;
Revenues to the state treasury are sinking faster than officials estimated even a few weeks ago, forcing Gov. Mike Rounds to revise the budget he proposed in December.
All of a sudden Mike is paying attention.
While vowing to do the job as painlessly as possible, Rounds indicted that funding for some programs could be in jeopardy, and he refused to rule out additional tax and fee increases.
“I wish I could tell you today we have the answers,†he said. “As of today, we don’t have the answers.â€
“There is nothing, in my opinion, that will be considered sacred.â€
It’s like what John Stewart said about Shrub, running a country (state) isn’t like going to college. You can’t just dick around all semester then make up for it in the finals.