Search Result for: South Dakota


Arguments Heard on Whether south dakota Districts Can Sue State

...This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters.   The south dakota Supreme Court has heard arguments on whether school districts can districts can participate in or help finance a lawsuit against the state. These constitutional questions are related to the state’s school funding lawsuit. A written ruling is expected soon.    A coalition of school districts, representing more than a third of the state’s 300 school districts and including many rural ...
Date: 2009-03-12

Rural south dakota Schools Win Major Victory

...arily rural school districts suing the state over its funding system has won a major victory in the south dakota Supreme Court. Last month, the Court held that the south dakota Coalition of Schools can participate in and help fund the school finance lawsuit.   The decision reverses a judgment by Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur who ruled last year that school districts’ participation in the lawsuit was illegal. That ruling followed calls by Governor Mike Rounds for the districts to be remo...
Date: 2009-08-20

south dakota Candidates Speak Out Against Consolidation

...Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. south dakota’s forced consolidation law has become an issue in the gubernatorial race. Both candidates, Republican Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Democratic Sen. Scott Heidepriem, have taken stands against the state law that forces districts to close when their enrollment drops below 100. south dakota provides financial incentives for district consolidation. Both candidates have said the incen...
Date: 2010-09-28

south dakota Districts to be Heard Before State Supreme Court

...on of primarily rural school districts suing the state over its funding system will be heard in the south dakota Supreme Court next month, more than four years after being first filed. Last year Circuit Judge Lori Weber found the state’s funding system to be constitutional, holding that there is no quality standard required. south dakota’s State Constitution requires a “general and uniform” system of education. Parents and students are plaintiffs in the suit, and the le...
Date: 2010-12-21

south dakota Funding Fight Update

...or expire over time. In a step that brings the school finance lawsuit closer to hearing before the south dakota Supreme Court, plaintiff districts’ attorneys have filed their appeal brief. The state’s attorneys have 85 days to respond. Plaintiff rural districts have faced multiple battles on several fronts in the case, including in the legislature. Last month, in attempt at halting the south dakota Coalition of Schools funding action, the state senate unsuccessfully introduced a res...
Date: 2010-03-26

south dakota Funding Proposal Worse Than Expected

...Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. south dakota schools are bracing for even deeper cuts than those proposed last month by outgoing Governor Mike Rounds (see December RSFN). Newly-elected Governor Dennis Daugaard had said he would take Rounds’ proposed five percent cut into consideration. But his budget proposal includes a 10% across-the-board cut — about $480 per student, a move that state educators say would take scho...
Date: 2011-01-25

south dakota Judge Rules Funding Not Unconstitutional

...but may require registration or expire over time.   In a ruling that runs over 300 pages, a south dakota judge has found that the state’s funding system needs improvement but is not unconstitutional. Judge Lori Wilbur reviewed state constitutional and legislative history in her decision and found that education is not a fundamental right for students in the state and, therefore, that heightened scrutiny of educational programs is not warranted.   She also found district supe...
Date: 2009-05-05

south dakota Lawsuit Ends

... free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A group of south dakota school districts have lost their challenge to the state’s school funding formula, but attorneys for the districts say future legal challenges could still succeed. Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the education finance system. Noting that the plaintiffs had to meet a very “high burden” to overcome the presumption of constitu...
Date: 2011-09-28

south dakota Lawsuit Highlights Rural Issues

...This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters south dakota’s school funding case, which opened last month, has focused mainly on the circumstances of rural districts and their severe underfunding. School leaders from several rural districts Faith, Doland, Bon Homme, Willow Lake and Florence districts, along with leaders from Rapid City, delivered compelling testimony about shortfalls in facility funding and an inability to recruit and retain high quality teachers. For ex...
Date: 2008-10-10

State Updates: south dakota

...This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the April 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Spending: south dakota ranks dead last in state spending on K-12 education and in average teacher salaries. In 2005-06, the national per pupil average for state support for schools was $5,018, but south dakota spent only $2,922 per student in state funds. Some of that difference is made up locally. Voters in many districts have approved local tax increases above the state limit to support their schools, bringin...
Date: 2008-04-01

2010 Rural School and Community Trust / Fund For Teachers Grant Recipients

...nbsp; Searsport High School, Searsport Science teacher Dawn Staples-Knox traveled to Hot Springs, south dakota to learn from scientists how to excavate, record, and preserve Mammoth bones and develop lessons for students. Resources  Curriculum: 9th Grade Earth and Environmental Unit: Earth's History     Skowhegan Area High School, Skowhegan English/Journalism teacher Paul Deagle attended a conference wth famed author, Alistair Macleaod at the 2010 Humber School for Writ...
Date: 2010-10-26

All Children are Equal Act (H.R. 2485) to be Considered by the House Education and the Workforce Committee

... Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania Kristi Noem, south dakota Martha Roby, Alabama Joe Heck, Nevada Dennis Ross, Florida Mike Kelly, Pennsylvania     Democrats George Miller, California (Ranking Member) Dale E. Kildee, Michigan Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Robert E. Andrews, N...
Date: 2011-11-29

Anything But Research-based: State Initiatives to Consolidate Schools and Districts

...tiatives, Winter 2006: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, south dakota, Texas, and West Virginia Breaking the Mold: Policies that Support Rural Education Rural Trust's Rural School District Reorganization Standards Introduction Policymakers are giving unprecedented lip service to the importance of data-based decision-making and research-based education reforms. But many are not heeding their own admonitions and are instead exploring or ...
Date: 2006-03-06

Calls for Consolidation in Michigan Reveal Many Issues

...d cover for otherwise unpopular proposals. But this year we are seeing gubernatorial candidates in south dakota back away from mandatory consolidation for small rural districts in that state. And, in Texas, proposals for budget-cutting incentives are primarily focused on trying to get school districts, especially large districts, to enter cost-sharing agreements. Michigan also has a proposal out to provide grant funds to districts to offset some of the costs of developing shared-service arrange...
Date: 2010-09-28

Consolidation Watch: State Policies on an Important Rural Issue

...ut not all are promoting it. The following group of articles examines current consolidation news in south dakota, Texas, Iowa, and Michigan. south dakota Candidates Speak Out Against Consolidation Candidates for governor of south dakota have spoken out against a state law that forces small districts to consolidate.... Texas Proposal Rewards District Cost-Sharing Texas districts could receive a portion of their savings if they agree to share services.... Iowa Losing Rural School Districts I...
Date: 2010-09-29