Senate Passes Hoghouse to Give One-Time Money to Education

After almost an hour of emotional discussion Tuesday evening, members of the Senate passed House Bill 1137, which aims to improve education in South Dakota. The bill came into the Senate as a hoghouse bill and was amended on the floor. Despite the lengthy discussion, the bill passed with no dissenting votes. The debate came from a portion of the proposed amendment that gives funding to Teach for America. The original amendment gives technical schools in the state $200,000 in one-time money, almost $6 million to K-12 education, and $100,000 to Teach for America. Senator Jim Bradford expressed concerns about funding a program that doesn’t necessarily improve education on reservations. Senator Larry Lucas proposed an amendment to remove the Teach for America section of the bill. He says the state should be putting money into public schools, not private entities.
 
“I’m not sure why we want to reimburse Bureau of Indian Education schools, BIE schools, we don’t do that for our Christian schools or any of the other private schools in the state. It really raises a red flag of why we want to do that. I know you care about the education of our Native American students, and so do I. But I can tell you that somebody coming for two years to work on a reservation, because that’s their only requirement they come for two years, and it’s a win for them more so than a win for the schools because they come for two years to learn a new culture in South Dakota on our reservations and in most cases they leave, there’s no long term commitment,” Lucas says.
 
Lucas’ amendment failed, but a different amendment to raise the Teach for America funding in the bill to $250,000 did pass. Senator Bradford asked fellow members to support the bill saying that it improves education in the state, despite having a portion he doesn’t agree with. The bill passed the Senate with 33 affirmative votes, two excused.