The Associated Press
MITCHELL - Two
members of the state Board of Education say in a pretrial
deposition that the state is not providing adequate funding for
education.
Donald Kirkegaard,
of Britton, and Glenna Fouberg, of Aberdeen, both gave depositions
under oath as part of a lawsuit against the state brought by
parents of students and backed by many South Dakota
schools.
Scott Abdallah,
Sioux Falls attorney for the plaintiffs, on Wednesday said he was
surprised members of the state Board of Education would make such
comments.
"It shocked us that
they were willing to make those admissions," Abdallah
said.
But Deputy Attorney
General Roxanne Giedd, lead attorney for the state on the funding
case, said "the case is a long way from trial and until we get
there, there's no telling where the evidence is going to lead
us."
A September 2008
trial date is set. Attorneys have been gleaning testimony from
witnesses in pretrial discovery since summer.
"We've reached an
agreement with the state where we can argue of behalf of 10 to 15
diverse 'focus' districts and present evidence on problems that
exist," Abdallah said.
In an Oct. 12
deposition, Kirkegaard, the state board's representative for early
childhood issues and superintendent of the Britton-Hecla School
District, said South Dakota is 51st in the nation for teacher pay,
that "teacher salaries are a problem" and that the state "needs to
fund pre-kindergarten education" because it is "critical to the
success of many of our students."
Fouberg, American
Indian education issues representative for the state board and the
1994 state teacher of the year, agreed in her testimony that the
use of one-time money was an inappropriate way to fund k-12
education. One-time money, argue many school district
administrators, cannot be used to cover ongoing and escalating
costs, such as salaries.
Fouberg also agreed
that what she says is a lack of funding is probably partly
responsible for poor test results in one school district. She also
acknowledged that pre-k education is probably an essential
component in providing students with a quality
education.
