The Argus Leader has a story about Attorney General Larry Long's request to have the South Dakota Coalition of Schools group audited:
"The attorney general's office believes that any expenditure of public tax dollars by a South Dakota school district to challenge the constitutionality of a statute is illegal," Long wrote. He cited a 1999 Supreme Court decision involving the Edgemont School District to support his contention.
"Therefore, this office believes that it is improper and illegal for school districts to finance this lawsuit," Long said.
This echos what I said some time ago. It makes no sense that one government entity should sue another government entity for more tax dollars. Those tax dollars don't belong to either of them, but it's the responsibility of the executive and legislative branches to dole out that money legally and with fiscal responsibility.
Besides, they're already doing pretty good by any sane estimate. From my Rapid City Journal column a while back:
It claims “adequate” education funding requires somewhere between $133 million to $405 million more than the $517 million currently allocated for 2007. In the last four years, state education spending has gone up an average of about $16 million a year, and schools also have $154 million in reserve funds.
How can they save a little of the taxpayers money? Here's an idea:
U.S. Department of Education statistics say teachers make up only 50.6 percent of elementary and secondary education staff, or about 65 percent if you throw in guidance counselors and aides. If the product is classroom instruction, the remaining 35-49 percent seems like a high ratio of support staff, to me.
Our education system has gotten far too uppity. They think they're little islands of autonomy and everybody ought to just bow to their great intellect and do what every they say.
I hope AG Long is successful in demonstrating to them that they are accountable to the people, and that they taxpayers aren't their compliant subjects, to be milked for more tax dollars just because they claim they "need" them.
They are under the authority of the executive and legislative branches of government whether they like it or not, and ALL government is accountable to the people (i.e. the taxpayers).
After all, our state motto is "Under God the people rule." (not the schools or education special interest groups)
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