President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education during his upcoming four-year term.
Republican U.S. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota is introducing a bill to eliminate the department. Rounds said the federal education agency is too “bureaucratic,” and that local control is better.
Rounds said his plan would be to divide up some of the Department of Education functions into other departments where they would fit better.
On Friday, the presidents of the three colleges in Sioux City told Siouxland Public Media News they have unanswered questions on how some important services would be carried out if the Department of Education is eliminated. Some programs that direct federal education money to colleges and the federal student aid program have been functioning within the department for decades.
The Department of Education was established by Congress in the 1960s. To eliminate it, the bill requires 60 votes in the Senate. Republicans will have 53 members in the chamber next year.
In a press release, Rounds said, “Local school boards and state Departments of Education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C."
*In other news, as Sioux City School Board members work to hire a new district superintendent, the current associate superintendent has said she is not interested in being elevated to the position.
In the most recent November 11 school board meeting, two Sioux City School District constituents said there is belief in the community that there is not a legitimate look underway at candidates, asserting that the associate superintendent will likely be elevated.
Now, Angela Bemus said she is not interested in the job, and prefers to remain in her position, according to the Sioux City Journal.
Superintendent Rod Earleywine will retire at the end of the school year in June 2025. Sioux City School Board President Jan George said last week that board members are keeping an open mind towards all possible candidates.
Board members have hired a recruiting firm to undertake a wide search for a new superintendent. Some community meetings to inform that search were held at the city high schools in October.
*In other news, the South Dakota Native Tourism Alliance became a nonprofit this year and is entering the next phase of its work, five years after it began.
The alliance was formed by the state’s nine Native American tribes and dozens of other organizations to boost entrepreneurship in economically disadvantaged communities and preserve and promote Indigenous culture.
According to South Dakota News Watch, there is no direct line between the state’s nearly $5 billion dollar tourism industry and the reservations. Members of the SDNTA see tourism as an entrepreneurial opportunity for parts of the state where jobs are scarce.
South Dakota Native Tourism Alliance Board Chairman Frank Kills said the tourism that could lie ahead won’t make the tribes rich, but the goal is to bring more money to individual families in tribes.
The same difficulties that make developing new tourism pieces to reservation communities appealing also make it a challenge. Alliance members say investing in accommodations for visitors can be a hard sell, especially when residents worry that some visitors will be disrespectful.
