SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – School vouchers can have many names. Education savings accounts, tuition tax credits, etc. But for South Dakota’s education groups, they all mean the same thing: an attack on public education funding.
Vouchers in a sense allow families to take funds allocated for public schools and use them to pay for either private or homeschooling. Proponents of vouchers often call this “school choice.”
School Administrators of South Dakota executive director Rob Monson said South Dakotans already have the option of “school choice” by being able to open enroll into different districts, or choose private schools over public. But this effort would actively hurt public schools by starving them of money.
“In South Dakota, we’ve had school choice, and parents can home school. They can go to a private school, they can go to a public school. All great choices. The challenge we see with vouchers is we only have so much money in South Dakota to fund the K-12 system we have,” Monson said.
South Dakota Education Association executive director Ryan Rolfs said those cuts won’t be small. And he’s afraid it will be the state’s smaller districts that are impacted the most, making waves in their communities with cut programs.
“It’s going to result in larger class sizes, fewer educators in our classrooms. That’s both our teachers, our classified staff, and a reduced amount of programming we’re able to offer in our school communities. That doesn’t just hurt our schools, that hurts our students and the families,” Rolfs said.
The two organizations, along with Associated School Boards of South Dakota, the Large Schools Group, and South Dakota United Schools Association all penned a letter calling for push back against any effort to install school vouchers in South Dakota.
The full letter can be read below.
Dear South Dakotans,
We are writing to our friends and neighbors as representatives of education-focused organizations. Our organizations are comprised of South Dakotans who have served South Dakota communities and their children for decades. We express our strong concern and opposition to the introduction of school voucher programs in South Dakota. Voucher programs have many names, such as Education Savings Accounts, Tuition Tax Credits, Vouchers, Grants, Tax Credit Scholarships, or Debit Cards. These programs divert critical funding away from your public schools, which serve as the lifeblood of communities across our great state. Our public schools are the foundation of our community’s future as schools in your community produce your next workforce and serve as the draw for our young people to come home and raise their South Dakota families.
Public schools are the cornerstone and pride of our communities, welcoming all children regardless of background, ability, or socioeconomic status. The divergence of South Dakota taxpayer dollars into private, alternative instruction (home school) or for-profit institutions undermines Article VIII of the South Dakota Constitution. Our communities have been built on our public schools‘ ability to provide equitable, high-quality education for all children regardless of their zip code. For generations, South Dakotans have respected individuals‘ school choices, whether through open enrollment, private schooling, or alternative instruction (homeschooling), while maintaining their communities’ foundation through their public schools.
Research indicates that voucher programs consistently fail to improve academic outcomes. Most recently, research from the non-profit Economic Policy Institute reports how “Vouchers undermine efforts to provide an excellent public education for all.” The research notably states, “Public education is worth preserving – it should be seen as one of the most important achievements in our country’s history and crucial for the social and economic welfare of future generations.” It also warns, “Paradoxically, even while they take resources away from public schools, many newly introduced voucher programs could result in more total state spending in coming years.” As educators and South Dakotans, we ask that we not dismantle a system that is the bedrock of our communities as it provides all children with the opportunity to learn, be fed, be safe, and belong.
Instead of dismantling the system that educates the majority of our children, we urge policymakers to focus on strengthening public education. Monies intended to build “another education system” should be invested in our communities and our K12 system. Let us reaffirm our collective commitment to our communities through our pride in public schools, which are an investment in our children and the foundation of our democracy.
Submitted,
School Administrators of South Dakota (SASD)
Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD)
South Dakota Education Association (SDEA)
South Dakota United Schools Association (SDUSA)
Large School Group
They point to costly programs like in Arizona, New Hampshire, and Iowa that have spent far more state funds on school vouchers that what was originally allocated. Rolfs said in addition to those increasing costs, test scores also have either stayed steady or dropped.
“It has not resulted in better test outcomes for our students, or better learning outcomes for our students. So you have money going out of your public school system, having less resources go to all of our students, and then still getting lower results from our students. That’s just not a recipe for success,” Rolfs said.
Monson said while nothing has been announced yet, they’re sure there will be a lengthy discussion over school vouchers this next session in Pierre.
“We’re pretty confident there will be a voucher bill of some type coming, and this is probably one of those discussion points that will be happening the entire session. It won’t go away for a while,” Monson said.
Both Monson and Rolfs said if a bill is introduced, they and the other organizations that signed that letter plan on fighting it. They said after educators and state lawmakers worked hard to find solutions to put more money into school districts’ hands, this would be a step back.
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