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Biden administration moves to protect Alaska wilderness; opening statements and first witness in NY trial; SCOTUS hears Starbucks case, with implications for unions on the line; rural North Carolina town gets pathway to home ownership.

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The Supreme Court weighs cities ability to manage a growing homelessness crisis, anti-Israeli protests spread to college campuses nationwide, and more states consider legislation to ban firearms at voting sites and ballot drop boxes.

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Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

Budget Increase Planned for K – 12 Education

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Thursday, December 6, 2012   

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard has included a 3 percent increase in state aid to education in the budget he will present to the 2013 Legislature. That falls in line with the state-aid formula, but comes two years after schools absorbed a 10 percent cut.

While the increase is welcome, says Sandy Arseneault, president of the South Dakota Education Association, says schools still are recovering from the cuts.

"We need to sit down and continue that conversation, and hopefully find some collaborative way of addressing those funding challenges. I think that's a huge issue for our schools still, and we're just going to keep talking about that."

Arseneault says schools face a challenge restoring programs lost by the cut.

The governor also outlined other challenges, including the muddled fiscal situation in Washington. Despite such issues, Arseneault says, educating children has to be a high priority.

"I understand that with the fiscal cliff hanging over our heads, we need to be conservative and really look at the future. However, I think our priority really still needs to be on how do we make sure that every child has a quality public education in our state."

One issue missing from Daugaard’s budget this year was comprehensive education reform. A bill passed by this year's Legislature would have begun the process of teacher evaluation and done away with tenure, but it was defeated by voters last month. Arseneault says teachers still are willing to work on reform, but at the local level.

"We believe that reform needs to begin and continue at the local level. And we are hoping to empower some of our members out there to really make a difference in their schools and talk about what they could do differently and start the challenges at that level instead of coming from a top-down mandate."

Arseneault says her organization wants to hold an education summit with teachers and state and federal officials to talk about jump-starting the process.


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