January 27, 2015 –

The House of Representatives voted to agree with Representative’s Jim Bolin’s House Concurrent Resolution 1003, Urging Congress and the President of the United States to Abolish the United States Department of Education.

Here is the text of the Resolution.

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging Congress and the President of the Unites States to abolish the United States Department of Education.

    WHEREAS, public education was designed by the citizens of the United States to be a state and local matter; and

    WHEREAS, the United States Department of Education has become a bloated, intrusive agency that performs many functions that could be eliminated or performed by other agencies within the federal government; and

    WHEREAS, many of the employees of the United States Department of Education are highly paid bureaucrats who directly educate no children in the United States; and

    WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan, during his presidency, called for the dismantling of the department; and U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, during his recent successful campaign, called for the abolition of the department; and

    WHEREAS, the current federal deficit is over four hundred billion dollars, the current national debt of the federal government is over seventeen trillion dollars, and the need to

Balance the federal budget is vitally important to the long-term economic health of our nation:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninetieth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature believes that education is a state and local matter that should be free of federal interference, and therefore, urges Congress and the President of the United States to abolish the United States Department of Education.

This resolution was introduced by Rep. Jim Bolin with the following Representatives and Senators signing on: Representatives Brunner, Campbell, Craig, DiSanto, Greenfield (Lana), Haggar (Don), Haugaard, Hickey, Kaiser, Klumb, Latterell, Marty, May, Qualm, Russell, Stalzer, Verchio, and Wiik and Senators Olson, Haggar (Jenna), Jensen (Phil), Omdahl, and Van Gerpen

 You can listen to the debate on the House Floor below. There were some issues with the computer for the first few minutes. Rep. Bolin begins presenting the resolution at about 2:55.

Below is a picture of the results of the vote. The resolution passed 48-20

Those voting to agree with the resolution are in green.

Agree: Anderson, Beal, Bolin, Brunner, Campbell, Conzet, Craig, Deutsch, DiSanto, Duvall, Gosch, Greenfield, Haggar, Harrison, Haugaard, Heinemann, Hickey, Hunt, Kaiser, Klumb, Langer, Latterell, Marty, May, Mickelson, Novstrup, Otten, Partridge, Peterson, Qualm, Rasmussen, Rounds, Rozum, Russell, Schaefer, Schoenbeck, Schoenfish, Solum, Stalzer, Stevens, Tulson, Verchio, Westra, Wiik, Willadsen, Wink, Wollmann, Zikmund

Those voting to disagree with the resolution: Vartling, Bordeaux, Cronin, Dryden, Feickert, Gibson, Hawks, Hawley, Holmes, Hunhoff, Jensen, Johns, Killer, Kirschman, McCleerey, Ring, Romkema, Sly, Soli, Werner

While this resolution is not a bill and is not legally binding , it does send a message.

Thank-you Representative Bolin, the Senators and Representatives who signed onto this Resolution and all those who voted in favor of local control of K-12 Education.

On to the Senate.

http://legis.sd.gov/Legislative_Session/Bills/Bill.aspx?Bill=HCR1003&Session=2015

UPDATE ON SENATE VOTE