Local Supers Cool to Rounds K-12 5% Cut

The Madison Daily Leader gets three of our local superintendents on the record about Governor Rounds's proposed 5% cut to state aid for K-12 education. They don't sound happy, but they aren't jumping off any grain elevators yet. They list the cuts we'd face under the governor's plan to lower aid by $240 per student (with adjustments for the small-school formula):

• Madison: enrollment approx. 1150, cuts $275,000 (eliminate the new gym proposal, save $2.9 million, and we cover that shortfall for ten years, maybe more).
• Oldham-Ramona: enrollment 124, cuts $30,000.
• Rutland: enrollment 131, cuts $31,000.

Madison superintendent Vince Schaefer refers to the proposed education hacking as "just talk." He seems to be thinking along the same lines as legislative leaders who are waiting to see what revised budget Governor-Elect Daugaard will submit once he takes office.

Superintendents John Bjorkman from Oldham-Ramona and Dr. Carl Fahrenwald from Rutland both make the point that there isn't any fat left in their budgets. They've already been cutting academic muscle, eliminating programs like FFA and consumer sciences. Anyone who fantasizes that cutting K-12 funding 5% is just getting rid of darned gum'mint waste needs to visit these superintendents.

Update 08:55 CST: John Nelson juxtaposes the proposed cuts to education with news that kids in Shanghai are kicking our cans on math, science, and reading scores.

Rutland School Wins Ace Hardware Makeover

Local cultural instutition, employer, and blog sponsor Rutland School just found another way to stave off Pierre's efforts to strangle small schools: they won a paint job! Ace Hardware's "Helpful Hands" Program just named Rutland School the South Dakota winner of an indoor makeover. The school will get $2000 worth of painting to fix up some classrooms or other areas that need the work.

The school applied last May. Ace Hardware announced the nationwide winners yesterday.

No word yet on whether the Rounds Administration will now try to claw back $2000 in state aid from Rutland to apply toward the state deficit. I wouldn't put it past the governor....

Rutland Grumbles over Press; Madison and Hartford Whine over Competition

Rutland Superintendent Carl Fahrenwald spoke with Josh Verges of that Sioux Falls paper about open enrollment and school competition. However, the superintendent thought he was providing information for a news article, not an editorial. Dr. Fahrenwald lets me know that he found the word choice in Verges's Sunday article highly slanted.

Fahrenwald has an arguable point. The headline "Small Schools Paid Recruiting Bonus" misrepresents the school funding formula. The per-student allocation for a student whose family chooses to open enroll is no more a "bonus" than the per-student allocation for a student whose family moves to or procreates within a school district. Complaints about "Different student values in different districts" (one of the articles subheadings) are really complaints about the school funding formula, not open enrollment.

The article also refers to student recruitment by former Avon Superintendent and current state Secretary of Education) Tom Oster as "poaching," a fighting word among good South Dakota hunters.

Some of the language of the article seems to reflect the misunderstanding of economics exhibited by jealous school officials like Madison Superintendent Vince Schaefer and jealous lawmakers like Hartford's Deb Peters. "Officials from some larger districts say state rules give small schools an unfair advantage in the enrollment battle," writes Verges. What advantage? Show me one instance where a family has chosen a smaller school district over a larger district based on the fact that the smaller school will receive a larger per-student allocation from the state.

Fahrenwald says the article spends too much time portraying open enrollment as a turf war between districts and not enough time discussing the actual opportunities that drive open enrollment and the advantages families get from it. Verges does open with a mention of the convenience factor for some families. He acknowledges the position of the two largest school districts in the state, Sioux Falls and Rapid City, which argued last winter that Rep. Peters's anti-open-enrollment legislation was an unhealthy distraction from the effort to secure more funding for K-12 education.

Verges also balances the article with the perspective Parkston Superintendent Shayne McIntosh. Instead of whining like Rep. Peters that a neighboring district sends a bus to pick up open enrollees, McIntosh says, "We look at it a different way. Why are those kids leaving? What aren't we doing to keep them there?"

In a state full of Invisible-Hand-worshipping Republicans, Superintendents McIntosh and Fahrenwald should be heroes of the marketplace. They're not whining about other communities offering better educational opportunities (and I hear from locals that Chester sends a bus to Rutland to pick up open-enrollees, too). They're looking at their own resources and figuring out how to compete. Rutland has chosen to try to be a public magnet school. Rutland School knows that if they don't improve, innovate, and differentiate their services, they cease to exist. How's that for motivation?

If I were Madison or Hartford, I'd be embarrassed to complain about tiny schools like Rutland and Montrose cutting into my enrollment. I wouldn't respond by crying to Pierre. I'd hear Sean Connery asking me what are you prepared to do? If Rutland recruits one of my kids, I recruit five of theirs. If Rutland offers a stellar journalism program, I offer an even more stellar journalism program and a full-scale varsity debate program. If I'm losing students, I crank up the academic excellence at Madison to the point where you'd have to be crazy to go anywhere but our fair school.

And if some Madison kids still ride the Rutland bus, then I don't complain. I tell my school board and my neighbors my school offers the best education our resources can provide, accept that some parents disagree, and I sleep well at night.

Top Ten Stories of 2010: A Madville Times Wishlist (Part I)

Senator Snowe doesn't want to dwell on history, so why not look ahead with hope and aspiration? Here are the top ten stories of 2010. Don't confuse these headlines with predictions—in three previous tries, I have yet to pick a winner... although that's never stopped me before! These are just the ten best stories I hope I'll get to report on the Madville Times in the bright, bouncy new year.

1

Highway 34 Four-Lane Campaign Buys Masons' Building: "Build it and they will come," said campaign organizer John Goeman of Four for the Future members' decision to buy the Madison landmark. "We're sick of begging for federal money to build more road to Madison. We're going build something to give people a reason to come to Madison." Goeman and his colleagues have formed a non-profit corporation and hired local carpenters and artists to turn the old Masonic temple into a cooperative coffee house, gallery, meeting hall, and movie theater.

2

TSA Officers Work Naked: "I wasn't trying to start a revolution," said Chicago airport security agent Ralph Jablonski. "I just tell this lady to step into the body scanner, and she says, 'You show me yours and I'll show you mine.' So I says o.k., I drop my pants, and the lady steps right into the scanner, no questions asked. Pretty soon everybody in the airport's droppin' their drawers." Jablonski's initiative was so effective at improving customer satisfaction and trust, President Obama soon mandated nudity for all TSA staff. This new government transparency has inspired passengers to fly naked and made security a breeze.

3

Fahrenwald Named MadChestRut Superintendent: Following the resignations of their superintendents, Madison and Chester school districts both realized they could get along without a superintendent. "We farmed out duties to the principals and business manager, and no one noticed a difference," said Madison board president Jay Niedert. Madison and Chester then pursued further cost savings by taking up an offer from the Rutland school district: the two school districts dissolved and merged with the Rutland School District. Rutland Superintendent Carl Fahrenwald will run the new district, which spans three-quarters of Lake County. Madison residents responded with cautious approval: "Maybe now we'll win some football games," said former coach Tom Milne.

4

Jason Bjorklund Places Third in County Commission Race: Local 9-12 Project activist Jason Bjorklund came within two votes of winning a Lake County Commission seat in the November 2 election. Bjorklund's third-place finish was the closest any Glenn Beck/Tea Party candidate came to actually winning elected office on any South Dakota ballot. "I love politics!" said Bjorklund, vowing to run again. "I just need to keep improving my public speaking skills. I also need to remember that real county politics are about fixing roads and hiring good cops, not banning the Federal Reserve and preaching Natural Law."

5

Heidepriem Names Munsterman Economic Development Czar: After a literally bruising gubernatorial race that saw primary season fistfights and independent challengers splintering the state Republican Party, Governor-Elect Scott Heidepriem announced the olive-branch appointment of his main challenger, Scott Munsterman, as state economic development czar. "Scott knows South Dakota's future depends on promoting growth through cooperation in our rural communities," said Heidepriem. "Plus, the economic portfolio will keep Scott away from his nutty fundagelical friends in the all-abortion-all-the-time crowd."

...read on: here's the second half of the Top Ten Stories of 2010!

Rutland, Oldham-Ramona Advertising on KJAM for Students

Choice and the free market are alive and well in Lake County education. Both Rutland and Oldham-Ramona appear to be cranking up their summer ad blitz with ads on KJAM's website:

(What? Advertising online? Carl, John, spread some ad love my way! And fellas, if you really want to boost open enrollment, add a debate program!)

PUC Picks 8 Schools for Wind; Rutland Not on List

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has picked eight schools to receive 1.8-kilowatt wind turbines in the Wind for Schools program. The lucky eight:

• Sioux Falls Memorial Middle School
• Douglas
• Sanborn Central
• Faith
• Selby
• Aberdeen
• Elkton
• Stanley County

Alas, Rutland was among the 24 applicants who didn't luck out. (I hope Governor Rounds's low opinion of Rutland's superintendent didn't have anything to do with the decision.)

Let's hope the eight winning schools make the most of their new energy saver... and let's hope the state and federall governments keep this program going so the rest of our schools can get a chance to capitalize on locally grown energy.

Recession? Not in Rutland: Black Studios Expanding!

My friends Michael and ElizaBeth Black are battling the bumbling economy with good old-fashioned success: They're adding staff to their business! Last night's MDL reports that Black Studios of Rutland has just added Melissa Hansen to its now five-person staff. That's a 25% staff increase! Plus, in Rutland, population 200, the Blacks now probably account for 30% of private-sector employment.

How can the Blacks be such an economic powerhouse operating from an old church in Rutland? Lots of hustle, of course, working weddings and taking senior photos all over eastern South Dakota. The Internet also helps: like lots of photographers, Michael and ElizaBeth use a blog to reach customers and update us on their best work and other fun they're having.

Making it in business means having good connections. Nice thing about the Internet is that "connections" no longer means being friends with the banker. It means good signal and the ability to reach clients everywhere who truly appreciate the quality of your work.

Rutland School Seeks Wind Turbine

If Todd can cry "Man-crush!" on Obama, I think I can say this: Carl Fahrenwald is a total stud. The Rutland School District superintendent is exactly the passionate defender that his small community needs. He has fought to get laptops for his students. He has waged a vigorous ad campaign in the Madison Daily Leader to draw open enrollees to enjoy the attention of smaller classes and to swell Rutland's enrollment (fall 2007 pre-K thru 12: 123). Just a couple weeks ago he put his name to a strongly and artfully worded MDL op-ed arguing the hypothetical savings of school consolidation are based on "several tremendously foolish assumptions." How many administrators do you know who will dish that sort of straight talk in the local paper?

And now, Superintendent Fahrenwald is tilting at windmills -- literally. Rutland School District is applying to be part of the PUC's "Wind for Schools" program. If Rutland is among the five South Dakota schools that will be chosen, Fahrenwald is willing to stake $3500 of the district's money on this forward-looking project:

Rutland Superintendent Carl Fahrenwald said not only would there be energy savings with the installation of a wind turbine, but a science curriculum would also be provided to the school [Elisa Sand, "Rutland Vies for Possible Wind Turbine on Property," Madison Daily Leader, 2008.02.14].

Superintendent Fahrenwald is no mere caretaker, serving his time until Governor Rounds or the big-city contingent of the Legislature put him and his school out of business. Fahrenwald is saying to his students, his town, and Governor Rounds, Rutland is here forever. Now that's school pride.