Education Funding
I was happy to see that Governor Rounds read one of my recent articles in The Champion concerning education funding. He indicated I was misleading folks with my facts and figures. Let me tell you exactly where I got my information, and what those facts and figures say. The last thing I would ever want to do as a legislator is to mislead anyone about anything, especially when it comes to how their tax dollars are spent. My father was a science teacher, a principal, and a superintendent of schools in Virginia, Minnesota. My mother was a pharmacist, a teacher in Wolsey, SD and North St. Paul, Minnesota, and a lab technician. They were very religious and involved in their Lutheran church. I was taught from very early on that lying was wrong, and telling the truth was the most important thing a person could do under any circumstances. I have always prided myself on telling the truth, and telling people where I stand on issues. I am also willing to listen and learn.
The facts and figures I used came from the Associated School Boards of South Dakota. Their information was obtained, as I indicated, from the U.S. Census Bureau (The Bureau of Labor Statistics, where my younger daughter worked for two years). Governor Rounds does not think such an entity exists. Other education data was taken from the National Center for Education Statistics. As I stated, since 1998, state funds for education have decreased from being 58% of the budget to being 49% of the budget. I believe when Governor Rounds states that "state aid to education has increased by 120% to $364,578,230," he is saying that the amount of money given to education is that much greater than it was 10 years ago. However, inflation has grown every year, and the pot of money in the state budget grows every year also. When you look at the over-all percentage of what is given to education now compared to ten years ago, it is 9% less than it was. In addition, as I stated, drawing from ASBSD facts, state government now receives 51% of the state budget compared to 42% of the state budget back in 1998. If education still received the same percentage it did in 1998, K-12 could have approximately $764 more per student today.
Since 1998, according to ASBSD, seven cents of every state dollar has been shifted away from education towards other areas of state government. Since local tax payers have carried more and more of the financing of K-12 education, and our state aid to education is last in the U.S., it is really past time for the state to step up and make education a priority. I have talked to many superintendents, principals, and teachers in the last few weeks. I have received countless e-mails. Educators are desperate for more funding for salaries and for capitol outlay, especially in our area. The governor cut the percent of increase to schools this year to 2.5%. And yet he is willing to loan out $10 million of our tax dollars to businesses. The governor wanted schools to consolidate, and now that the legislature did his bidding last session, he wants to pull the rug out from under consolidating schools by reducing promised incentive and cost funding (HB 1051). Why isn't the governor more interested in funding education? K-12 education is not a cost, but an investment. Our children are our future, and the future of this state and our nation. We must make their education our top priority, so that business, tech schools, and higher education all can thrive.
Elder Care
Who Will Take Care of Us When we Are Old? What are the trends in long term care in our state? Who will it affect? As our population ages, we are looking at a significant increase in elderly in our state in the next 20 years. And as our population shifts away from rural settings, keeping the local nursing home going is becoming more of a struggle. Not only is the population of residents declining, but workers--certified nursing assistants and nurses--are becoming more difficult to find. Our state is concerned with being able to adequately fund nursing homes and care for the elderly. As our national government cuts back funding for Medicare and Medicaid, our state struggles to provide for the elderly as well.
I am a member of the long-term health care study commission authorized by the executive board of the legislature to study funding and efficiency for the future of long-term care. Several difficult issues are involved. Some rural areas have three or four nursing homes within 15 or 20 miles of each other, and most have many vacancies. They cannot continue to operate in the black unless their census is about 90% or above. Our state cannot afford to support nursing homes that are not operating efficiently. But we are talking about businesses, owned by several different entities, including Avera, Sanford, Good Samaritan, Golden Living, and others. The state is faced with how to encourage organizations to discontinue homes that are not able to meet a census guideline.
At the same time, long-term health care organizations are providing alternatives to nursing home care. Assisted living centers, independent living housing, and home health care can be viable alternatives for seniors in need of a little extra care or the security of having someone check on them on a regular basis. New technology can allow monitoring of basic health, such as blood pressure or glucose levels, through telemedicine in the home. These avenues of care cost far less for seniors and their families, and for the state.
But part of the continuum of long-term care will always involve nursing homes, and our committee is looking at expansion of beds in urban populations, as beds in rural areas decline. South Dakota has had a moratorium on increasing nursing home beds since 1988 to help hold down the cost to the state. Shifting more beds to where they are needed in urban areas, as the need declines in rural areas makes sense. However, the committee has also identified nine communities which are identified as "access critical," meaning it is important to have a nursing home to serve the needs of the area in those locations.
I have been around nursing homes since I started dating my now-deceased husband, Mark, when I was 19 (just a few years ago...). Mark was always interested in the Good Samaritan Society, which was started by is grandfather in Arthur, ND, with pennies left over from helping a young man with polio. Mark began work with "Good Sam" in 1985, after serving as Campus Pastor at Augustana for nine years. For the last seven years of his life he was the President and CEO of Good Samaritan. I visited well over 100 homes and centers with independent, assisted living, and nursing homes. For the last five years I have served on the National Board of the Society, helping shape goals and policy. Most recently, the Good Samaritan Society is hoping to partner with Craig Lloyd to put up low income housing downtown in Sioux Falls, as part of the new development.
I share the love Mark had for old people. It is one of the reasons I often have a wonderful time going door to door in District 12. We have many elders in our district, and they are such a joy to visit. At one home, a 92-year-old woman was in a panic because her indoor cat had escaped and was hyperventilating on the roof of her house. Her nephew got on the roof and caught the cat, and handed it to me at the top of the ladder. The woman was so grateful. This cat is all I have, she said. (I didn't tell her husband what she said.) Another senior was living with her grand-niece and her small children. It was time for me not to live alone, she said, and I just love being around the children. Now there is assisted living, the old-fashioned way!
Although none of us likes to think about getting old, preparing for that eventuality earlier rather than later is helpful. Purchasing long-term care insurance at a younger age is quite affordable, and will give you the assurance of being taken care of, whether at home or in a facility, later in life. If you are helping family members with elder-care, consider the needs, and look into the different levels of care to see which one fits. I will report back to you when our committee makes its recommendations to Governor Rounds. In the meantime, call (605-261-1044), contact me here, or write to me at 19 Riverview Hts.with any questions or comments. Senator Sandy Jerstad
Who Cares?
She was sitting in her garage in a wheel chair/walker, her eyes shining with life. I had stopped by for a visit, and she couldn't stop talking about her granddaughter, her church, her doctors and nurses, her kind neighbors, and her zest for life. How old do you think I am, she asked. Eighty, I ventured. I'm ninety, she said proudly, and proceeded to tell another life story.
Burtha cared about life--hers and others. She appreciated a visit and the chance to talk and the opportunity to see young people. She reached out a strong old hand to be touched, while recounting that she only weighed two and a half pounds at birth and was fed six drops of milk at a time through an eye dropper. She was a huge inspiration to my friends and I, and we went away marveling at her attitude and spunk. A few minutes later I saw her out with one hand on the hose and the other on her walker, watering her flowers.
Caring is something we all can do, and when one person expresses care, it seems to be contagious. I spent several hours in Tea on Teapot Days, eating delicious pancakes, sipping coffee, and talking with many who attended the Pancake breakfast put on by the Tea Historical Society. People cared enough to put on a good fund-raiser, and others cared enough to attend, and enjoy community company. I also enjoyed the parade, where many people had cared enough to produce a great parade, and the community turned out in a huge way. I couldn't take my eye off the clowns and the unicyclists!
We celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks, a parade, perhaps a gathering of military officers, and with flags flying everywhere. I hope for all of us that we stop to think about what we are celebrating, and to care deeply about the freedoms we enjoy in our country. Since we are far removed from a time when we were under an oppressive government, we tend to take our free lives for granted. So many in our world still live in places of fear of retribution for almost any independent act. We are free to practice our faith, to speak publicly about our opinions on anything, to move about freely, to meet together as political groups, to vote, to speak up for our rights, and to protect ourselves and our families from danger.
But we must always guard against not caring about government and public policy and who gets elected in our state and national capitol. It is easy to wring our hands and say, my vote doesn't count, or, I can't do anything about it. If you do care about our country, and our government, we all can do important things to insure that we retain our free democracy. We can become informed on issues and candidates. We can write letters to editors, and talk with friends and neighbors. We can e-mail our legislators. If we all care about our lives, and the wonderful freedoms we have in this country, and if we all do our part in preserving our freedoms, we will continue to be a shining beacon to many people and countries in our world. And we will also set a good example for our children and grandchildren, and preserve democracy for their future.
I appreciate the opportunity to serve as your state senator in District 12, and always welcome your comments and questions. Sandy Jerstad; 261-1044 or contact me here.