Mitchell Rotary to host ballot-issue debates

Talk about it

The Mitchell Rotary Club will host two election forums in the upcoming weeks. The first will feature a debate regarding Referred Law 14 at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada. David Owen, South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, and Ben Nesselhuf, South Dakota Democratic Party chairman, will debate Referred Law 14, an Act to establish the Large Project Development Fund.

If the law is approved, 22 percent of contractors’ excise tax revenues will be transferred from the state general fund to the Large Project Development Fund. The South Dakota Board of Economic Development would use Large Project Development Fund money to provide grants for the construction of large economic development projects within the state. To be eligible, a project’s cost would have to exceed $5 million.

The second debate will feature Referred Law 16. This debate will be at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Ramada. Dr. Melody Schopp, South Dakota secretary of education, and Sandy Arseneault, South Dakota Education Association president, will participate.

Referred Law 16 is an education reform act with five key components: establishing a scholarship program for eligible college students who commit to teach in South Dakota in critical need subject areas; creating a program to provide state-funded annual bonuses for eligible math and science teachers; developing a separate “Top Teachers” bonus program; mandating a uniform statewide system for evaluating teachers and principals; and eliminating state requirements for continuing contracts (“tenure”) for teachers who do not achieve tenure by July 1, 2016.

Tags: election 2012, news, updates, local, mitchell, debates, forums