In light of the alleged mishandling of millions of taxpayer dollars through the GEAR UP program, run by MidCentral Educational Coop, Representative Lance Russell, Hot Springs, has called for Dr. Melody Schopp, Secretary of Education, to resign her position, citing the apparent lack of oversight of how taxpayer dollars are being spent. The request for…
Joy Pullmann, is a research fellow on education policy for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of The Federalist, a web magazine on politics, policy, and culture. She is also a former managing editor of School Reform News. In that capacity, Pullmann interviewed and produced podcasts with many of the leading figures in school reform. Before…
As I posted last week, the Board of Education postponed the full July 27, 2015 meeting in Rapid City, including the proposed Social Studies Standards required public hearing until August 24, 2015. (Link) Due to a proposed rules change public hearing, there will be a July 27, telephonic meeting. You can read the proposed rules…
July 15, 2015 This morning the South Dakota Board of Education held a telephonic meeting with the single agenda item of changing the date of the July 27, 2015 board meeting in Rapid City. One of the agenda items of the July 27 meeting in Rapid City, was to be the last of four public…
To complete the 26 member Blue Ribbon Task Force on Education Funding, Gov. Daugaard has named the additional members. The original members of the task force are legislators and members of Gov. Daugaard’s administration: Sen. Deb Soholt, Sioux Falls – Task-Force co-chair Rep. Jacqueline Sly, Rapid City – Task-Force co-chair Sen. Corey Brown, Gettysburg Sen.…
The Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force has held public meetings in two of six scheduled cities around the state. Cindy Peterson, mother, business owner and wife from the Chamberlain area attended the business leaders meeting in Chamberlain on June 2, 2015. She sent me this email with her thoughts and observations from the meeting and…
This morning, the following email was sent to all South Dakota Legislators from Tony Venhuizen, Chief of Staff to Gov. Daugaard, on behalf of Sen. Deb Soholt and Rep. Jacqueline Sly, Co-Chairs of the Blue Ribbon Task Force. From: “Venhuizen, Tony” <Tony.Venhuizen@state.sd.us> Date: Jun 2, 2015 9:03 AM Subject: Legislator Blue Ribbon Message To: “Deb…
Governor Daugaard appointed a task force to consider education funding in South Dakota. Because this task force seems to be heavily stacked in favor of the administration’s agenda – the education reform agenda – it is vital that parents and all members of the public attend and comment at the scheduled public meetings in June. Please…
Reasons parents are refusing the SBAC assessment: The Cooperative Agreement between SBAC and the Federal Department of Education, demands that SBAC share student level data with the federal government. (Link 1) The federal DOE changed FERPA to allow sharing of student level data with “stakeholders” without parental consent. (Link 2) A Missouri court has found…
Parents wanting to refuse the SBAC test for their children are running into push back from their school superintendent. Why? The School Performance Index (SPI). By South Dakota Public School Accountability Index, for elementary schools, 80% of the SPI is based on the SBAC results. For high schools, it’s 50%. …
South Dakotans Against Common Core 