Stephen Groves
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota House lawmakers on Wednesday dismissed a proposal to fund two new schools structured around Oceti Sakowin language and culture, dealing a blow to Native American educators who have tried for years to get state support to rethink schooling in their communities.
The Republican-controlled House Education committee rejected the bill on a 4-8 vote, all but killing the proposal that had already passed the Senate. It was the third year that Lakota lawmakers have brought the idea to fund the community-based schools through the state’s public school system, and the second time the House committee has rejected it.
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Democratic Sen. Troy Heinert, who is leaving the Legislature after this year, has spearheaded the proposals, arguing that it would address low education proficiency levels, high dropout rates and high rates of suicide among Indigenous youth.
He pointed to the history of schools trying to assimilate students and said the new schools would instead encourage and foster students’ identity, language and culture. The idea for the schools was sparked from Native American Community Academy, a charter school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that has produced higher graduation rates for Indigenous students than the rest of the state.
“We want them to feel comfortable and to feel safe,” said Chante Heart, a mother who also works for the South Dakota Democratic Party. “Where they can smudge, where they can say their names in Lakota.”
However, organizations representing public education opposed the bill, arguing that language immersion schools are already possible within the existing structure. They pointed to an initiative in Rapid City public schools to expand opportunities to learn Lakota language and culture.
“What this bill seeks to do, can and is already happening,” said Rob Monson, executive director of the School Administrators of South Dakota.
They also criticized the bill as riddled with problems. The state does not allow charter schools, but school groups argued the bill would do just that. It would create problems for distributing funding and school governance, they argued.
Educators in Rapid City and on the Rosebud Indian Reservation were hoping to apply for funding if the bill was enacted. Sarah White, who is president of a group starting the schools called the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition, said the fledgling schools would continue, but with limited impact.
“We’re representing students who are coming from some of the poorest communities, not only in South Dakota, but across the entire nation,” she said. “And we’re asking that leaders, Indigenous leaders of these schools, identify their own resources.”
