Gov. Kristi Noem requests $900,000 for education revamp

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Governor Kristi Noem is proposing a $900,000 fund to focus on promoting civics in South Dakota’s education curriculum. However, teachers’ unions are saying that the state does a good job teaching civics and history already.

During her annual State of the State address Tuesday, Governor Kristi Noem stated her priority of improving civics and history education.

“I have tasked my administration with creating instructional materials and classroom resources on America’s founding, our nation’s history, and the state’s history,” Noem said. “We must also do a better job of educating teachers on these three subjects. Through all of this, our common mission and key objective need to be explaining why the United States of America is the most special nation in the history of the world.”

The Governor said recently in an article in The Federalist that “the left” has indoctrinated students from Kindergarten through college. In a statement, the president of the Sioux Falls Education Association says these statements are “incredibly insulting” and are “neither correct nor constructive.”

Teachers’ unions are also hoping that some positive change can be made from Noem’s proposal. Loren Paul, President of the South Dakota Education Association, said that there’s some educational content he hopes to see in the curriculum.

“Hopefully that $900,000 can be used to develop more South Dakota history content, including our indigenous people in that,” Paul said. “That’s a very important part of our history and culture.”

Paul hopes that South Dakota teachers are brought to the table to develop any new content, and he’s worried about politicizing educational subjects.

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