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Outgoing (and outgoing!) Madison Central School Board member Rod Goeman has a bone to pick with the state.
The South Dakota Coalition of Schools argues that state government is shorting K-12 education between $133 million and $400 million a year.The coalition thus brought the funding lawsuit against the state, a legal action that has the support of 84 school districts. Among his responses, Governor Rounds sicced Attorney General Larry Long to audit the coalition to make sure that the schools don't spend any public dollars on the lawsuit. Of course, Governor Rounds and AG Long have lots of tax dollars at their disposal to spend fighting the lawsuit.
Goeman's beef: The state has lots of money, and gets to deny its opponents money on threat of audit and whatever other torture AG Long can come up with. Sounds like an unfair advantage in the courts, where the state can simply keep fighting and appealing until its opponents run out of money.
So what are we going to do about it? Well, Goeman says it's time to pass the hat. He is challenging every school board member in the state to donate their paycheck from one meeting to help fund the legal expenses for the school funding lawsuit. He says he dropped off his check (Madison Central meeting fees: $35) at the MHS business office yesterday. Teachers, well, you're already in a tight spot because of Pierre's stinginess, so it's hard to ask you to cough up more money, but if you've got some spare cash (like, oh, say, your stimulus check coming next month), maybe a little bit can be an investment in winning a more just salary, not to mention more resources to teach your kids.
It's sad that Pierre is so obstinate that we have to take the state to court to try getting what we want. but that's what thirty years of stick-in-the-mud (or is it stick-in-the-eye?) GOP politics have led us to. The Governor will use every tool at his disposal to beat his own teachers and administrators -- Goeman is trying to round up the money we need to fight back.
There is a runoff
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You can now go vote at the Minnehaha County Administration office Downtown
Sioux Falls at 6th and Minnesota Avenue. Your choices are Mr. Jordan
Deffenbaugh...
20 hours ago
Passing the hat -- Now there's an idea! A great idea! And not just for funding the lawsuit, but for funding the schools directly.
ReplyDeleteI moved here to Lead four years ago this month. I was a little taken aback to discover, shortly thereafter, that some school districts had in effect declared war on me. Seems I was not giving them enough money ...
Good Lord! I write science and math study guides for a living! Do they not think I would be sympathetic to their plight? I am still -- but less than I would be if they did not have their heavy artillery pointed at my face.
While I understand their frustration, I hope that they are not entirely ignorant of the fact that their war-like behavior is bound to generate a combative attitude in many South Dakota taxpayers, who already have a hard enough time paying their bills.
The simple concept of my challenge is that a small amount given by a large amount of people can add up. With 84 Schools participating in the lawsuit, if each School Board Member donates one meeting's salary, it would amount to over $17,000.
ReplyDeleteIf each teacher and administrator from the 84 schools donates $10 toward the Coalition legal fund, another $45,000 could be raise. If teachers increase that to $20, the amount jumps to $90,000 plus what the school board members donate. It would be wonderful to generate $100,000 toward the legal expenses the Coalition anticipates.
Donations can be written out to Coalition of Schools, c/o Linda Whitney, 40405 SD Hwy 34, Forestberg, SD 57314.