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GORDON GARNOS
(5/15/2007)
Governor, you don't need to be reserved about school reserves, still.... AT ISSUE: Governor Mike Rounds is again complaining about the increased school fund reserves. In a recent Associated Press story he said school officials who are putting extra money into budget reserves instead of teacher salaries or programs and should explain their decision to taxpayers. This is not a new issue. A few years ago it was discovered that some school districts in South Dakota had socked away millions of dollars instead of using that money for teacher salaries. That is when the Legislature put a cap on how much could actually be in those reserve funds. Also, a follow up on last week's column. Some recently published numbers prove the success of the state's alcohol bracelet program. A COLUMNIST RECENTLY wrote that another subject was "confusing, conflicting and confounding." So it is when it comes to school finances in South Dakota. Speaking a while back to the South Dakota Education Association, Governor Mike Rounds complained that in the past four years the state has sent $30 million in new money to the school districts. At the same time, these school districts have increased their budget reserves by $31.5 million during the same period "instead of spending it on programs or teacher salaries." Does our governor have a legitimate complaint? Yes. He does. Still, those reserve funds are being saved for a rainy day. And it is a sure bet that a number of our schools across the state are going to have a rainy day and it may not be too far off for some. THOSE RAINY DAYS might come in the form of the Legislature discontinuing its "Small School Factor" payments in its distribution of state aid. Those days could come when the Legislature says it does not have the money to "keep on giving," unlike that bunny on the Energizer TV commercials. And in the crunch, in some school districts what they can cram into that sock might just keep them open for another year or so. Still, the governor is right to be concerned. For the past several years the state has been dumping millions of dollars in the form of state aid to our schools, but teacher salaries don't seem to be increasing proportionately. Why? Because school boards see a greater need to save rather than to spend. I have heard it said that teachers already are being paid too much "for nine months of work." Whoa there, just a minute! Being married to a teacher who spent 22 years of her life teaching, I know first hand that those nine months of work compute out to more like 12 or 14 months when one considers the hundreds of nights and weekends correcting papers and attending other mandatory school functions during his or her teaching career. WE HAVE ALSO heard a lot about "one-time money" given to these schools. Some could consider this a bonus for teachers. At the same time when you talk of one-time money, it would be hard to establish a pay raise for teachers from this money simply because that one-time money may not be around next year. As the law now stands, school districts can have a general fund budget reserve of no more than 20 percent. There was an attempt in this past legislative session to raise that to 30 percent, but the proposal was defeated. Still, the question remains, shouldn't local school officials determine what is best for their schools? The answer usually is an overwhelmingly "Yes!" But the fact remains that the state of South Dakota has been paying more than 50 percent of a school district's expenses for some time now. Shouldn't it also have some say in how that money is spent? YES, FUNDING, no matter what side you might be on, the education of our children is confusing, conflicting and confounding to a lot of us....
Numbers prove value of state's alcohol bracelet program IN LAST WEEK'S column, I harped about the sad statistic South Dakota has, being number one in the nation for its increase in our state's prison system. But there was also a light at the end of that tunnel by putting monitoring bracelets on the non-violent convicts so they could return home and once again become productive citizens as long as they didn't step out of line. The early results of the alcohol bracelet program were recently announced by Attorney General Larry Long that has to be considered as good news for us taxpayers. The report showed 59 people have participated in the program since early November. Eleven committed some type of violation through last April so had to be returned to confinement. The other 48 successfully completed their time. If that isn't proof of the pudding I don't know what is....
Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.
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