A headline on the last page in the local news section of the local daily this morning: “Iowa slips to 41st in teacher pay rank.” You had to go to the fifth paragraph to find out South Dakota ranked dead last. (On a somewhat positive note, the NEA report (PDF file) indicates South Dakota rose from 37th to 33rd in expenditures per student in grades K-12).
Evidently the local media is so fascinated with whether the Zip feed mill falls down it can’t mention a far more important issue. Maybe the fact the largest daily in the state mentions Iowa’s ranking for teacher pay but doesn’t have a story pointing out South Dakota’s says a lot about why we are last. Then again, sadly, maybe it’s just old news.
Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization.
George Bernard Shaw
While the Argus clearly missed this story (so far, anyway) on this day, I have to give them credit for consistently editorializing about the poor record South Dakota has in equitably compensating its educators. In fact, I would be surprised if it isn’t their lead editorial one day yet this week.