One of the biggest applause lines in Gov. Kristi Noem’s State of the State address was her assertion that schools should beef up their civics curriculum. Then she linked graduation with the ability of high school seniors to pass the U.S. Citizenship Test.
It had to be tough for school administrators and teachers across the state to hear legislators clap the loudest for an idea that essentially says that they’re not doing a good enough job when it comes to civics education.
Noem’s idea seems to be popular with legislators, but she may be using her clout in the wrong area. Instead of making sure students know who wrote the Federalist Papers, it would be refreshing if more of them emerged from high school prepared for college-level work.
Wouldn’t it be great if the state’s public universities didn’t have to offer a roster of remedial classes in English and math? They are essentially doing the work that local school districts should have accomplished in the first place.
The shortcomings of South Dakota’s educational system have been apparent for a while. Up until recently, South Dakota consistently found itself ranked last in the nation in teacher salaries.
To get South Dakota out of last place, it took action by the Legislature to raise the state sales tax, earmark the money for teacher salaries and then tell school districts exactly, precisely how to spend the money under penalty of losing it.
So much for local control.
Serving on a school board has to be one of the toughest local elected positions. Board members deal with concerned parents, teacher negotiations, miles of federal red tape that leads to only a trickle of federal funding and a fickle Legislature that likes to tinker with the school funding formula.
Maybe there’s a better way to go about educating kids so that class requirements are uniform, teacher salaries are no longer a national embarrassment and students graduate uniformly ready to enter college or the workforce.
Newly elected officials have a honeymoon period and this is Noem’s. Maybe she should put aside her idea for revitalizing civics education and take on the revitalization of South Dakota’s entire education system.
Billy McMacken is the publisher of The Brookings Register. Contact him at bmcmacken@brookingsregister.com.
