SCSD#3 Hosts Legislators on Monday

On Monday night, Dec 4, Senators Dave Kinskey and Bo Biteman along with Representatives Barry Crago and Cyrus Western, met with Clearmont residents over a dinner hosted by SCSD#3 to talk about school concerns.

Topics included the block grant, about which Wade Betz, SCSD#3 School Board Vice-chairmen, voiced his concern.

Senator Biteman responded about the block grant.

Kinskey explained about the block grant and how it started, with a lawsuit in the 1990s.

There was a general consensus among the legislators that the block grant was not going anywhere any time soon.

Other topics discussed included school choice, and Senator Kinskey said that even though small schools often feel threatened by school choice, as they are afraid of losing students, research has proved that small schools lose the least students to school choice. “Small schools are usually the least affected,” Kinskey said.

Chase Christensen, SCSD#3 supertendent, added,

Parental rights came before the group, and there was an agreement that parents have the right to be a part of their children’s education. Representative Western felt that school choice was important, and that parents should be ‘in the driver’s seat’ on their children’s education.

Another topic was funding for CTE programs. The legislators felt that CTE programs were important in the schools as not every student is on the college track. Barry Crago felt it was important to have a funding category for CTE programs.

Mike Buss, who works at the school and is also the head of the Clearmont EMS, expressed his concerns, due to people in the Clearmont area are so far from other emergency services.

Senator Kinskey responded to Buss’ concerns.

The growth of AI was addressed briefly at the forum as well. Over 20 concerned Clearmont area residents attended the forum.