No changes were made to the Senate Education committee for the 2022 legislative session.
Sen. Blake Curd will serve as Chair of the seven-member Senate Education committee, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Thursday at 7:45 a.m. during the 2022 legislative session.
Let’s meet the committee members:
Sen. Blake Curd (District 12) starts the final year of his fourth term in the Senate and as Chair of the committee for the second consecutive year. Sen. Curd, an orthopedic surgeon from Sioux Falls, has sat on the Senate Ed. committee for six years and served as Senate Majority Leader in 2017 and 2018. He will also serve on the Health & Human Services committee.
Sen. Kyle Schoenfish (District 19) begins his 10th year in the legislature and third in the Senate, which will see him as the committee’s Vice Chair. Sen. Schoenfish previously served seven years in the House where he served on the Ag. & Natural Resources, Local Government and Taxation committees. He will also serve on the GOAC, Legislative Procedure, State Affairs and Transportation committees.
Sen. Jim Bolin (District 16) enters his 14th year in the legislature with 2022 being his sixth in the Senate. The retired teacher from Canton has number of years’ experience with education in the legislature, including four years on Senate Ed., with two as Chair, two years on House Education, on year on the legislative interim committee studying the Extraordinary Cost Fund and another on the interim study of Special Education. Sen Bolin is a Majority Whip and will serve also serve on the Senate’s Health & Human Services committee, Local Government and Retirement Laws.
Sen. Troy Heinert (District 26) goes into his final year of his final term in the Senate in 2022, after serving two years in the House in 2013 and 2014. Sen. Heinert, the Minority Leader, has previously served five years on the education committee and also sat on the Blue Ribbon Task Force in 2015. A rancher from Mission, he is on the Ag & Natural Resources, Retirement Laws, State Affairs and Transportation committees.
Sen. V.J. Smith (District 7) returns for his fourth year in the legislature and on the Senate Education committee. Sen. Smith is an author and public speaker and spent 10 years as Executive Director of the South Dakota State University Alumni Association. He will also serve as Vice Chair of the Ag & Natural Resources committee and on the Health & Human Services and Military & Veteran Affairs committees.
Sen. Wayne Steinhauer (District 9) makes 2022 his fourth in the Senate and seventh in the legislature overall. A business owner from Hartford, Sen. Steinhauer will be serving his fourth year on the education committee after three years in the House Representatives where he sat on multiple committees. In addition to Senate Education, he will also serve as Chair of the Health and Human Services committee and as a member of the Commerce & Energy and GOAC committees.
Sen. Erin Tobin (District 21) arrives in Pierre for her second year in the Senate and legislature, as well as her second year on the Senate Education committee. Sen. Tobin, a nurse practitioner and rancher, served on the legislature’s Executive Board in the 2021 interim. She will serve as Vice Chair of the Health & Human Services committee and on the Commerce & Energy committee.