5/10/18

South Dakota blanked on top high school rankings

Ashamed of being the only state without at least one gold or silver medal school South Dakota education officials were too embarrassed to even provide permission to US News to publish the state's Advanced Placement results in their rankings.
Gold medals were limited to the top 500, silver medals went to the top-performing schools that were nationally ranked (roughly 11 percent) and bronze medals were given to schools which were nationally recognized for their performance, but not ranked.
Read that here.
South Dakota high school students are assessed in English language arts and math via the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium exams. High school seniors in South Dakota can complete a capstone experience, which includes a research paper, project, portfolio and presentation, according to the South Dakota Department of Education.
South Dakota's dismal results are linked here.

It's taking its toll on some Black Hills schools, too. Hot Springs schools are facing a $422,000 shortfall. They didn't make the cut.
The Hot Springs School District Administration Building was once again tense Monday evening for the school boards business meeting. The board voted unanimously to eliminate a full time Spanish position, move two counselors from full to half time and to move a librarian from full to half time. In addition to the reduction in force, the board also accepted the resignations of three teachers and two other staff members.
Get that story here.

The Custer School District is under pressure to spend some $62,000 for a part-time cop but teachers are getting screwed.
Custer County Sheriff Marty Mechaley said there have been four different school resource officers in the past several years, which makes it hard for the officer to build a rapport with the students and earn their respect. Some on the board said they had an issue with only one resource officer and felt that all three schools in the district should have an officer.
Read that here. They didn't make the list.

Belle Fourche made the Bronze list. That school district is pondering a stronger law enforcement industry presence and is expected to spend more money on surveillance.
The school district might have had one of the most emotional school board meetings in months as three teachers were on the agenda to discontinue their service to the Hill City School District. While the context of the the last school board meeting was mostly confusion and unrest about the rest of the decisions, the school board was going to make the meeting on March 13 more about expressing anger about the situation. Howie Euneau, business owner in Hill City, said he heard nothing but negative feedback about what the school district is doing from people.
Read that story here. Hill City isn't on the list but after public outrage the district reinstated two teachers.
Mike Hanson, superintendent of Hill City school district, said the new funding formula in 2016 was based on lowering taxes and increasing teacher salaries. They are looking at every code in the budget to ensure efficiencies, create exemplary opportunities for students and to be within budget, a budget in which taxpayers will be confident in. The first source of revenue for these school districts is property taxes. Levies have dropped significantly and the school district is receiving less tax revenue than what they had been receiving. The school district saw a loss of $330,000 recently due to a focus on property tax relief that came in 2016. Last year’s general fund budget for the school district was around $4.8 million.
Read the rest here.

More evidence of Denny Daugaard's tyranny: a third of qualified teaching grads leave South Dakota while the remainder struggle with certification.

There is a net inbound demographic of white retirees moving to South Dakota where a regressive tax structure pays property taxes with federal Social Security benefits while enriching a medical industry monopoly.

As teachers flee South Dakota for blue states Sioux Falls is recruiting cheaper brown skinned educators.

K-12 Achievement: D (65.2), Status: D- (62.5), Change: F (57.6), School Finance: D (66.3), Spending: F (48.6). Read it all at Education Week.

So, police unions get the cash while teachers unions get the shaft: how conservative.

How 65 county seats and their bureaucracies are either conservative or sustainable remains a mystery.

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