Connect with us

South Dakota

South Dakota Gov’s $4M School Choice Plan Faces Backlash

Published

on

South Dakota Gov’s M School Choice Plan Faces Backlash


This article was originally published in South Dakota Searchlight.

PIERRE — A $4 million proposal by South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem to help students enroll in private school and other forms of alternative instruction would undermine public education by diverting state money to unaccountable entities, opponents say.

Supporters of the plan say it would allow the state to start educational reform that’s gained momentum nationwide while lowering education costs, forcing public education to innovate and offering South Dakota students tailored education to best meet their learning needs.

Noem pitched the creation of education savings accounts, or ESAs, to lawmakers at her annual budget address Tuesday in Pierre as a way to continue to “prioritize education” without cutting public education funds.

Advertisement

Put Students First: Support Journalism That Exposes Truth and Inspires Action. Donate to The 74


“Good education starts in the home,” Noem said. “And parents should have the tools to choose what educational path is best for their kids.”

The program would cover about $3,000 per student annually to pay for a portion of private school tuition or curriculum for alternative education, Noem said. She hopes to expand the program eventually, but she might not be around to act on that plan. President-elect Donald Trump has picked her as his nominee to lead the federal Department of Homeland Security, which means she could resign as governor as soon as late January, elevating Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden to serve the rest of her term.

Advertisement

Related

Jeb Bush: This Election, Families Made Their Voices Heard on School Choice

The program would be for “families who meet eligibility requirements,” according to information in Noem’s budget, and Noem’s spokesman said the requirements will include being low-income. Sixteen other states already allow families to use taxpayer funds for ESAs.

The proposal comes as South Dakota sees one of the highest rises in alternative instruction in the nation. Across the state, alternatively enrolled students account for about 6.5% of the school-age population, based on public, non-public and alternative enrollment data from the state Department of Education. Alternative instruction includes homeschooling and private schools that are unaccredited or accredited by an entity other than the state, such as online, hybrid and microschools.

Lawmakers and education lobbyists in Pierre are eager to learn the details about Noem’s proposed legislation – especially how the state will ensure oversight and accountability, how students are chosen for the program and how it’ll fit into the state’s ongoing expenses.

Advertisement

“We have homework to do,” said incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, a former member of the legislative budgeting committee who supports the school choice movement. “We have to go look at this and figure out how to implement this responsibly.”

Sandra Waltman, director of public affairs for the South Dakota Education Association, said any entity that accepts public funding should be held to the same standards as public education, such as testing requirements and anti-discrimination policies. Alternative instruction students are currently not required to take standardized tests or present a portfolio to demonstrate educational progress. Private schools aren’t obligated to serve all students, so they can deny admission and educational services, Waltman added.

“When you’re taking those precious funds and diverting them from public schools, you’re undermining what public schools can do for students,” Waltman said. “There’s no assurance the money they’re investing in education is actually making a difference.”

Noem didn’t propose cutting public education to fund the program, but proposed a state funding increase to public education of 1.25%. The inflation rate this year is 3.2%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Lower-than-expected sales tax collections primarily drive the leaner $7.29 billion budget Noem proposed Tuesday, which also includes cuts to some state departments and programs.

Advertisement

That signals to Rob Monson, executive director of School Administrators of South Dakota, that lawmakers will challenge the feasibility of ESAs.

“Some legislators will look at public education serving over 80% of students in the state and think, ‘If we have extra money, maybe we should obligate that to a program we’re already obligated to fund instead of funding a new program with ongoing dollars,’” Monson said.

Efforts to create ESA programs failed twice in the Legislature in recent years, largely due to questions about financial feasibility, said Brookings Republican Rep. Mellissa Heermann, a member of the House Education Committee.

South Dakota must be intentional with the “small pot” of tax revenue it has to work with, Heermann said. She added that there are already school programs in place to help address students’ mental health, behavioral and learning needs.

“I don’t know that vouchers would be as impactful as other programs,” Heermann said. “The timing doesn’t feel right to me to embark on something like this when we’re already trying to reduce costs as much as possible.”

Advertisement

Incoming House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, said the proposal focuses on educating students, rather than supporting a public education system that’s weighed down by overhead costs and top-heavy administrative costs. An ESA program could force local districts to decentralize, adapt and focus more on students’ education, he said.

“No entity evolves until it’s forced,” Odenbach said.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and X.



Source link

Advertisement

South Dakota

SD Department of Corrections announces high-risk offender release

Published

on

SD Department of Corrections announces high-risk offender release


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The South Dakota Department of Corrections is warning the public about the pending release of a prison offender.

Richie Desersa, 31, is scheduled to be released from prison to suspended sentence supervision on December 3, 2025.

SD Department of Corrections announces high-risk offender release(Dakota News Now)

He was convicted of third-degree burglary in 2017 in Minnehaha County.

“Based on the assessments we conduct during incarceration, as well as his criminal history, including prior sex offenses, Offender Desersa is considered to be high-risk for committing additional violent acts in the future,” said Lamb.

Advertisement

“I am issuing this alert to let law enforcement and the public know about his release.”

Desersa will be released to Sioux Falls with GPS monitoring and must participate in treatment.

He is a Native American male, 5′11″ tall, weighing around 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

This notification is in addition to the letters currently sent to law enforcement and notices provided to the Division of Criminal Investigation each month.

Since 2011, the Department of Corrections has issued a total of 21 public notices of pending high-risk offender releases.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

SD Lottery Lucky For Life winning numbers for Nov. 30, 2025

Published

on


The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 30, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Nov. 30 drawing

03-08-13-17-18, Lucky Ball: 17

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Advertisement

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

  • Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
  • Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
  • Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.



Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

Competition for Nebraska’s ‘Carhenge’ rises near South Dakota’s Badlands

Published

on

Competition for Nebraska’s ‘Carhenge’ rises near South Dakota’s Badlands


KADOKA, S.D. (Nebraska Examiner) — Nebraska’s quirky replica of England’s prehistoric Stonehenge, “Carhenge,” is about to get some new competition in a neighboring state. And a former Nebraskan is behind it.

Rising from a dusty, prairie ridge along Interstate 90 near this Badlands-area town is a collection of firetrucks dubbed “Firehenge.”

Its creator, an Omaha Burke High School grad who runs a Rapid City brewery, said the ring of 10-ton firetrucks vertically arranged in a circle is more about promoting his Firehouse Brewery Company than trying to lure away visitors from Alliance, Nebraska’s popular Carhenge, about 200 miles to the south.

The new South Dakota version of the roadside attraction, which sits just off I-90, also includes a collection of buried fire hydrants called “Doghenge.” By next summer, the new henges will include a gift shop where visitors can purchase brewery souvenirs and canned beer and wine from the Firehouse Brewing Co., South Dakota’s first and oldest brewery.

Advertisement

“We are just having a ton of fun out here. Just come out and see it,” said Bob Fuchs, the co-owner of the brewery who graduated from Burke in 1981. And, he adds, bring your dog.

A city official in Alliance, which took over ownership of Carhenge in 2013, said she doesn’t expect local residents to mount a monumental fuss over a competing “henge” in the general vicinity.

“I think all of these things are fun,” said Shana Brown, the director of cultural and leisure services for Alliance.

As it turns out, both Carhenge and Firehenge have plenty of competition in tourism’s Carhenge-replica category.

There’s a “Foamhenge” (made out of foam) in Virginia, a “Truckhenge” near Topeka, Kansas (made out of farm trucks), a “Phonehenge” (made out old telephone booths) in South Carolina, and a “Strawhenge” (made out of bales) in Bavaria, Germany.

Advertisement

Years ago, a “Twinkiehenge” was built during a Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. There was once a “Snowhenge” in Michigan and a “Fridgehenge” (made out of old refrigerators) once graced the plains near Santa Fe before complaints caused its demise.

A couple decades ago, a reporter was summoned to Chadron, where a suspected “Hayhenge” had been built northeast of town. Round hay bales had been arranged in a circle at a local ranch.

In the kinda-old-henge category, there’s a full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge in Maryhill, Washington, that was built in 1918 to honor people lost in World War I.

And near Carbury, North Dakota, there’s a circle of granite walls that serves as a 21st Century solar calendar, which is the suspected purpose of Stonehenge, a prehistoric circle of stones aligned for ceremonial purposes to indicate the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and fall equinoxes.

Carhenge was built in 1987 by Jim Reinders and his relatives as a memorial to Reinders’ father, who had lived on the farm north of Alliance where the collection of 39 American cars – arranged to align with the solar calendar – now sits.

Advertisement

The off-beat attraction draws about 100,000 visitors a year, according to Brown, and features a staffed gift shop from May through September. An estimated 4,000 people gathered there for the solar eclipse in 2017.

Carhenge has appeared in films, commercials, television shows and in song. Last summer, it hosted a group of muralists, who painted murals on the grey-painted cars, providing a new look for the motorcar monument.

Fuchs, the Firehenge creator, said he’s not haunted by henges but had visited Carhenge shortly after it was first created.

The inspiration for his firetruck circle came during a recent marketing meeting for his brewery, which was established inside a former Rapid City firehouse built in 1915.

Fuchs has long parked old firetrucks, purchased from all corners of the Midwest, next to his brewery billboards to draw more attention to his business. He says that he often hears that visitors to Rapid City’s downtown area ask “where’s the Firehouse?”

Advertisement

“It’s guerilla marketing,” Fuchs said during a recent visit to Firehenge. “It’s very effective.”

At the marketing meeting, one of Fuchs’ aides was playing with a toy firetruck. Once she set it on end, vertically, an idea was born.

He said he has no plans to hoist a firetruck so it sits horizontally across two vertical trucks — like the stones at Stonehenge and cars at Carhenge. Too many liability concerns, Fuchs said. More firetrucks may be planted this spring, though, he said. And a YouTube video, featuring a visit by aliens to Firehenge, is in the works, Fuchs adds.

Over the din of a front-end loader smoothing out a gravel parking lot, he said it’s been a lot of fun.

“I get to explore my artistic side by planting fire trucks in the prairie,” Fuchs said.

Advertisement

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Aaron Sanderford for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.

Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending