By Kacie Svoboda
“I think we all know that we have some tough issues this year. In fact, people can’t really say when it (the legislative session) has been this difficult,” began District 30 Sen. Bruce Rampelberg of Rockerville at the start of Hill City’s crackerbarrel on Saturday.
Rampelberg, along with District 30 representatives Mike Verchio of Hill City and Lance Russell of Hot Springs, used the crackerbarrel to field questions about the ongoing legislative session from the approximately 15 concerned citizens in attendance.
The two foremost issues for the legislators and attendees were Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s proposals on education and Medicaid.
Daugaard has proposed a half-cent increase to the state sales tax, which would raise approximately $100 million dollars yearly. He plans to use $60 million of these funds to finance increased teacher pay and to use the remaining $40 million to reduce property taxes.
Russell had a lot to say about the governor’s proposed changes to funding education. He explained that six years ago the state legislature cut education funding by 10 percent, with the belief that this reduction would be backfilled by other newly established programs. However, these additional programs did not make up the deficit in funding and 2016 is now the first year since the 10 percent cut in which the funding ratio is back up to $4,800 per student.
However, Daugaard’s proposal also looks to change the allocation formula from pay per student to pay based on a student- teacher ratio of 14-1 for small schools, 15-1 for medium-sized schools and 16-1 for large school.
Russell believes this formula will reward larger schools for having higher ratios and smaller school districts, like Hill City, that strive for smaller ratios, will receive a decreased amount of funding. Based on this new formula, all schools’ student totals will be divided by 14-16 to determine the goal number of teachers and hence how much funding is allocated for increased teacher pay.
School districts with lower student-to-teacher ratios — which is generally considered to be beneficial to learning — may receive less allocation than the current number of teachers on their payroll. On the other side of the equation, school districts with high student- to-teacher ratios would, in theory, be given more in allocation funds than their actual number of teachers. Russell feels that this formula will force school districts to consolidate in order to cash in on the additional pay for a higher number of students to teachers.
In the case of these higher ratio schools, the idea would be that more teachers would be hired to bring student-teacher numbers closer to the 14-1 ratio. However it has already become clear that school districts are reluctant to put government funding toward teacher pay.
“South Dakota is the only state where 38 equals 51. South Dakota is 38th in the amount of funding we give to schools, but is 51st in teacher pay,” explained Rampelberg.
Russell and Verchio also agreed that allocating the funds intended for raising teacher pay through school districts is another problem with the governor’s proposal.
Russell pointed out that there is $80 million in one-time money available this year that could be allocated to raising teacher pay. This would put off the need for a sales tax increase for another year and would cover the full $75 million estimated to cover raises for all South Dakota teachers. However, the school districts would be an issue in this solution as well.
“Schools have said they won’t use one-time money for teacher pay,” Verchio explained.
Russell agreed that one-time funds is only a temporary fix.
The other major discussion point at the crackerbarrel was Daugaard’s push to extend Medicaid coverage to include approximately 50,000 additional South Dakotans at no expense to the state’s general fund. This measure would add a lot of younger, able-bodied individuals to the Medicaid program, simply because they are below the poverty line.
“Why increase Medicaid,” questioned Hill City resident Georgiana Neff. “Why not create jobs that provide insurance?”
Verchio’s responded, “Good question.”
Both Verchio and Russell expressed their opposition to the governor’s proposal. They both think it would incentivize these younger individuals to stay below the poverty line to continue to receive healthcare on the dime of the taxpayers.
“You can make more money on welfare than in a job right now,” Verchio stated. “I don’t think we should encourage people who can work, not to work.”
Russell speculated that this additional burden on Medicaid is designed to “break the current system,” which would have people “begging for a single-payer system.” Russell believes instituting a single-payer system is the government’s end goal.
The main takeaway from the crackerbarrel discussion seemed to be a supreme dissatisfaction with the governor’s proposed changes to education and Medicaid from both the legislators and attendees.
“We are not going to be happy until the governor changes his ways,” Verchio concluded.
Both Rampelberg and Russell are up for reelection in 2016.
The Hill City crackerbarrel was sponsored by the Hill City Prevailer News, the Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Little White Church.
“I think we all know that we have some tough issues this year. In fact, people can’t really say when it (the legislative session) has been this difficult,” began District 30 Sen. Bruce Rampelberg of Rockerville at the start of Hill City’s crackerbarrel on Saturday.
Rampelberg, along with District 30 representatives Mike Verchio of Hill City and Lance Russell of Hot Springs, used the crackerbarrel to field questions about the ongoing legislative session from the approximately 15 concerned citizens in attendance.
The two foremost issues for the legislators and attendees were Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s proposals on education and Medicaid.
Daugaard has proposed a half-cent increase to the state sales tax, which would raise approximately $100 million dollars yearly. He plans to use $60 million of these funds to finance increased teacher pay and to use the remaining $40 million to reduce property taxes.
Russell had a lot to say about the governor’s proposed changes to funding education. He explained that six years ago the state legislature cut education funding by 10 percent, with the belief that this reduction would be backfilled by other newly established programs. However, these additional programs did not make up the deficit in funding and 2016 is now the first year since the 10 percent cut in which the funding ratio is back up to $4,800 per student.
However, Daugaard’s proposal also looks to change the allocation formula from pay per student to pay based on a student- teacher ratio of 14-1 for small schools, 15-1 for medium-sized schools and 16-1 for large school.
Russell believes this formula will reward larger schools for having higher ratios and smaller school districts, like Hill City, that strive for smaller ratios, will receive a decreased amount of funding. Based on this new formula, all schools’ student totals will be divided by 14-16 to determine the goal number of teachers and hence how much funding is allocated for increased teacher pay.
School districts with lower student-to-teacher ratios — which is generally considered to be beneficial to learning — may receive less allocation than the current number of teachers on their payroll. On the other side of the equation, school districts with high student- to-teacher ratios would, in theory, be given more in allocation funds than their actual number of teachers. Russell feels that this formula will force school districts to consolidate in order to cash in on the additional pay for a higher number of students to teachers.
In the case of these higher ratio schools, the idea would be that more teachers would be hired to bring student-teacher numbers closer to the 14-1 ratio. However it has already become clear that school districts are reluctant to put government funding toward teacher pay.
“South Dakota is the only state where 38 equals 51. South Dakota is 38th in the amount of funding we give to schools, but is 51st in teacher pay,” explained Rampelberg.
Russell and Verchio also agreed that allocating the funds intended for raising teacher pay through school districts is another problem with the governor’s proposal.
Russell pointed out that there is $80 million in one-time money available this year that could be allocated to raising teacher pay. This would put off the need for a sales tax increase for another year and would cover the full $75 million estimated to cover raises for all South Dakota teachers. However, the school districts would be an issue in this solution as well.
“Schools have said they won’t use one-time money for teacher pay,” Verchio explained.
Russell agreed that one-time funds is only a temporary fix.
The other major discussion point at the crackerbarrel was Daugaard’s push to extend Medicaid coverage to include approximately 50,000 additional South Dakotans at no expense to the state’s general fund. This measure would add a lot of younger, able-bodied individuals to the Medicaid program, simply because they are below the poverty line.
“Why increase Medicaid,” questioned Hill City resident Georgiana Neff. “Why not create jobs that provide insurance?”
Verchio’s responded, “Good question.”
Both Verchio and Russell expressed their opposition to the governor’s proposal. They both think it would incentivize these younger individuals to stay below the poverty line to continue to receive healthcare on the dime of the taxpayers.
“You can make more money on welfare than in a job right now,” Verchio stated. “I don’t think we should encourage people who can work, not to work.”
Russell speculated that this additional burden on Medicaid is designed to “break the current system,” which would have people “begging for a single-payer system.” Russell believes instituting a single-payer system is the government’s end goal.
The main takeaway from the crackerbarrel discussion seemed to be a supreme dissatisfaction with the governor’s proposed changes to education and Medicaid from both the legislators and attendees.
“We are not going to be happy until the governor changes his ways,” Verchio concluded.
Both Rampelberg and Russell are up for reelection in 2016.
The Hill City crackerbarrel was sponsored by the Hill City Prevailer News, the Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Little White Church.