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| October 2004 |
| Constitutional amendment B aims to
continue cooperation |
Gene Young
Managing Editor |
When voters go to the polls next month
(November 2), they will face more than just the races for President,
U.S. Senate, U.S. House and local lawmakers.
Voters will also face the prospects of changing the state constitution.
One of the Constitutional ballot amendments affects Catholic
school children in the diocese.
Constitutional amendment B, if approved, will change the Constitution
to allow the legislature to authorize participation in transportation
and food services of school age including children attending
parochial and private schools.
Nancy Swenson of the Equality in Education committee supports
passage of amendment B and calls it a “common sense constitutional
amendment.”
“It’s one of those things that it’s not a
Democrat or Republican issue. It’s about what’s
best for the kids,” she said.
Swenson pointed to the fact that 98 out of 105 state lawmakers
voted last legislative session to put the amendment on the ballot.
The amendment, if passed, would allow cooperation to continue
between the public school sector and the Christian, parochial
school sectors, according to Swenson.
In some areas, parochial and Christian school students are allowed
to ride on public school busses to and from school.
An insurance flap more than a year ago put that in jeopardy
until lawmakers and the Governor stepped in to fix it.
Or so they thought.
One school district continued to balk prompting lawmakers to
revisit the issue and put the amendment in the ballot.
State Senator Garry Moore, a Democrat from Yankton was one of
the prime sponsors of the amendment.
Moore thought lawmakers had addressed the issue in 2003. He
is disappointed it had to come to a constitutional amendment.
If that 2003 legislation “takes care of the concerns that
the Lloyd’s of London had and they were underwriting many
of our school busses’ liability, it certainly I would
think that it would take care of any of domestic insurers would
have,” Moore said.
State Representative Matt Michels, a Yankton Republican and
Speaker of the House, was also a prime sponsor of the amendment
and agrees.
“What I’ve consistently said from day one is “B
is for bussing,” said representative Michels. “I
feel that passionate about it. I would just hope that the number
of legislators involved would help voters support it.”
There is opposition to amendment B. It is led by the South Dakota
Education Association.
Bob Whitehead, the SDEA’s executive director, says the
group’s opposition to amendment B is because the language
is too broad. “We get into how expansive can this be and
that is really where our concern lies,” Whitehead said.
His group also worries if passage of amendment B could eventually
lead other obligations upon public school districts in regard
to cooperating with private schools. “We question whether
or not there is going to be an obligation on the part of public
school districts to transport public school students if it is
construed to be a discriminatory practice of picking up one
private school child or two and not others,” Whitehead
said.
Nancy Swenson and her family will not be directly affected by
whether the amendment passes or fails. Her children are not
in school where bussing services are shared. But she worries
that opponents to the amendment are just trying to frighten
people with rhetoric and claims that are not accurate.
State Senator Lee Schoenbeck, a Republican from Watertown, wrote
the “pro” amendment B position listed on the Secretary
of State’s website.
In it, he says amendment B addresses the issue of school districts
afraid to cooperate at all with private schools because of the
“Blaine Amendment” that prohibited that kind of
cooperation when South Dakota was admitted to the union.
Schoenbeck says amendment B will fix that issue while not costing
taxpayers anything. Amendment B, if approved, will allow “the
legislature to authorize the public and Christian school cooperation
we have known historically in South Dakota.”
State Senator Moore fears if amendment B fails, it will be back
before lawmakers again when it should not have to come to that.
The diocese and the Church promote the idea of faithful citizenship
for voters.
Both sides of the issue advocate that voters do research and
homework about their ballot measures before going to the polls.
Places you can get information about the upcoming ballot amendments
or measures include the state Secretary of State’s website
at www.state.sd.us or the Equality in Education Committee website
at www.equality in education.com. |
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