A bill that would have earmarked $2.85 million for professional development related to technology for teachers failed to get past the House Appropriations committee last Friday.
Committee members voted 7-2 to defer House Bill 1005 to the 41st legislative day. The deferral of HB 1005 marked the end of the line for the list of bills emanating from the 2013 legislative interim committee’s study on education funding.
ASBSD supported the bill.
ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany suggested the legislature look at finding “a way to move (professional development funding along,” since HB 1005 was not the answer to the teacher pay issue.
Opponents of the bill argued the funds were not allocated in Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s budget and could put additional initiatives on the plates of schools.
Rep. Jacqueline Sly, the bill’s sponsor, noted the bill provides dollars and training time teachers desperately need.
“Professional development is one way to set aside time for teachers,” Rep. Sly said. “Technology is a useful, but a time consuming task.”
Regardless of the outcome of legislation being introduced by the education funding committee, Pogany commended the work of the dedicated legislators assigned to the task.
“I have great admiration and respect…for the work (committee members) did,” Pogany said.
For updates from legislative session, check the ASBSD Blog and Bill Tracker page.