By Denise Ross

It’s down to the wire an a slew of education funding bills. Tuesday’s committee action should be both exciting and excruciating at the same time.

The Hoghouse has tried to pick the 3 most interesting of those bills, but that’s like trying to pick the 3 best varieties of chocolate.

I’ve written about Senate Bill 193 before, and I do believe this is the final chance for its sponsors to unveil their plan to save the world.

Right now, the bill simply reads: “Education in South Dakota is hereby enhanced.” Then again, maybe that’s a perfectly fine bill just the way it is. Who could vote against that?

House Bill 1214 would set the minimum public teacher’s salary at $30,000 by FY2010. I picked it over the other minimum teacher salary bills because this one hasn’t yet had a hearing.

Judging by the number of bills on this topic, and their similarity, setting a minimum teacher salary seems like a popular notion. I still peg its chances of running the guantlet at no better than 50-50.

I’ve also written about Senate Bill 149 before, the Democrats’ bit of political theater to point out that state government is not living within the spending limits it imposes on local units of government, especially schools. The Dems have other similar bills, but I like SB149 because it also attempts to make the point that the “Property Tax Reduction Fund” is really just a line item in the general fund, that the Property Tax Reduction Fund is putting on airs. (Which it totally is.)

That the House and Senate education committees have waited until the last possible day to deal with these bills, and others just as far-reaching, means that education funding and what to do about it is still being hotly debated in the Capitol, at after-hours dinners amongst lawmakers, at breakfast. And it means that there’s not enough time to forge a cohesive plan and pass it. Again.

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