FORMER STATE EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH MISDEMEANOR

PIERRE, S.D. – The Attorney General’s Office is reporting a former South Dakota Department of Social Services employee has been charged with using a DSS grocery voucher, intended for families in need, for personal use.

“It is alleged this defendant abused her position by using resources intended to help others for her own personal gain,” said Attorney General Jackley. “The Attorney General’s Office intends to continue to prosecute these cases to regain the public’s trust in state government. I appreciate the Department of Social Services’ cooperation throughout this investigation.”

28 year old Amalia Escalante Barrientos of Brookings is charged with one misdemeanor count of Obtaining Money, Property or Assistance by Fraud from Social Services or Related Programs. The maximum penalty is a one-year sentence in the county jail, a $2,000 fine or both.

An investigation by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation found the defendant had used the voucher, which is provided by DSS to families the department works with, to purchase groceries for her own personal use. The incident occurred at a Brookings business on Oct. 11, 2024.

The Attorney General’s Office will prosecute the case.

Barrientos has not yet made her initial court appearance. She is presumed innocent under the U.S. Constitution.

 

FIGHT OVER SCHOOL VOUCHERS IN SOUTH DAKOTA RAMPS UP WITH NEW LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

PIERRE, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A new bill in Pierre aims to fulfill Governor Kristi Noem’s goal of creating a school voucher program – also known as educational savings accounts – in South Dakota.

House Bill 1020 is sponsored by both House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach (R-Spearfish) and Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff (R-Pierre). The bill is filed and ready to be considered once the 2025 Legislative Session kicks off Tuesday.

In a press release, Odenbach said reforming education in South Dakota is the way forward.

“The South Dakota Constitution directs the legislature ‘to adopt all suitable means to secure to the people the advantages and opportunities of education.’ (Art. 8, Sec. 1). This bill does that, and brings South Dakota’s expensive education model out of the 1800s and into the 21st Century. Since over 60% of your property tax dollars are spent on the public schools, encouraging the system to evolve, streamline and decentralize provides the only real path forward for long-term property tax relief. It’s also just the right thing to do for the thousands of taxpayers who want alternative education options for their children.”

South Dakota House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach (R-Spearfish)

The initial funding amount for the vouchers requested by Noem is $4 million, allocating a select amount of $3,000 accounts for families to use for private or microschool tuition, alternative education (homeschool) curriculum, and more.

Secretary of Education Joseph Graves also sided in favor of the bill, and said there needs to be competition in education.

“This proposal fulfills the vision of parents as the first and primary educators of their children and extends a lifeline to those students who lack access to schools that meet their needs,” Graves said. “Education savings accounts unleash the positive, powerful forces of competition in the educational marketplace.”

But as with previous efforts to install a school voucher system in the state, public education groups warn that it will only create a bigger fiscal hurdle every year, and punish rural school districts the most by diverting funds away.

In a press conference before House Bill 1020 was released, School Administrators of South Dakota Executive Director Rob Monson said that 80 percent of the state’s students attend public schools. Any attack on the funding those schools receive would undermine the recent efforts to increase teacher salaries, reform curriculum, and help maintain schools as centers of their communities.

“I am a true believer that public education is the bedrock of democracy in this country. I will personally fight tooth and nail to make sure that public education stands forever if I can have my way,” Monson said.

Monson said following November’s election, he felt the hardest push for vouchers would come this upcoming session.

“Especially with the leadership that’s in place this year, they feel very emboldened to take some more runs at this. Again, the Governor put it in her budget,” Monson said.

In particular, those education groups are worried about the accountability of funds and accounts set up by the state.

While House Bill 1020 lists out what items are permissible for funding to go for, those groups argue that laws in South Dakota make it already difficult to keep tabs on students once they leave the public education system, and without additional oversight, there’s no way to track what those funds are being used for.

“It’s already a really difficult thing to track those students after they go. Those students, in some bill iterations that we’ve seen in the past, would be eligible for those same educational savings accounts, even though they may be no longer pursuing any sort of academic schooling at all, if they in fact had gone through that to be able to skirt the education system,” South Dakota Education Association Executive Director Ryan Rolfs said.

The bill does have a section that authorizes the Department of Education to conduct random audits of accounts. But Rolfs said without any explicit guidance and additional resources to conduct those audits, it’s nearly impossible.

“If the Department of Education were even to attempt to try and have accountability for it, you would be talking about an entirely new division, which when you’re talking about our state budget right now, there are not funds that are allocated to be able to create that sort of level of accountability for it. So it really would likely have to be that they are sending those dollars out, not knowing where they’re going at all,” Rolfs said.

The cost of the program is also a concern. Those select $3,000 accounts will initially fund about 40 percent of the student equivalent spent by the state, but House Bill 1020’s sponsors also stated that the goal is to eventually make the program fully available depending on legislative funding.

Sandra Waltman, Director of Public Affairs with the SDEA, said the state cost for similar programs in other states almost always balloon shortly after they’re passed.

“They double, triple in size, and it becomes very difficult for budgeting in those states. For example, we have Arizona that has the empowerment accounts. They started the program at $65 million. By 2025-2026, that program will cost the state of Arizona $429 million, and is accounting for about two-thirds of their budget deficit, ”Waltman said.

Those troubles are similar closer to South Dakota. Iowa has had its program running for only a couple of years but is already running into financial hurdles.

“They’re seeing some of their rural schools close, while they’re seeing some for-profit private schools pop up around Des Moines. So there are real stories about how these voucher programs negatively impact budgets and negatively impact schools, especially in rural areas,” Waltman said.

The groups said their concerns about a voucher system don’t extend to the current choices of education that are already in the state.

Associated School Boards of South Dakota Executive Director Heath Larson said they encourage families to explore the options they currently have, with private schools, homeschooling, and other charter schools that are under the supervision of school districts.

“We have an option for private and religious schools for parents to choose. We have a third option, which would be alternative instruction that is sometimes referred to as homeschooling. There’s another option for open enrollment, which is allowed in state statute,” Larson said. “We do have school choice in South Dakota.”

House Bill 1020 has yet to be assigned to a committee. A similar bill, House Bill 1009, is also waiting for committee assignment.

 

IOWA FINANCE AUTHORITY AWARDS NEARLY $4 MILLION TO SIOUX CITY FOR HOUSING PROJECT

SIOUX CITY – The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) awarded the City of Sioux City nearly $4 million to assist in the development of rental homes.

The funds will assist in the development of 17 rental homes for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

The entire grant is made available through the National Housing Trust Fund program.

Iowa Finance Authority Director Debi Durham said housing for the state’s lowest-income earners is one of our greatest housing challenges.

“This project will directly meet that need by offering permanent supportive housing to many individuals and families in Sioux City,” said Durham.

Funds will be used to develop Midtown Terrace located at 13th Street and Douglas Street.

The project will include a total of 24 units and will be a rowhouse-style development that includes parking, greenspace and onsite case management.

Jill Wanderscheid, Neighborhood Services Manager with the City of Sioux City, said the need for permanent supportive housing is a need in the community due to the number of high-needs individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

“The project will also act as a catalyst for neighborhood investment as this portion of the city has not seen significant investment in a number of years,” said Wanderscheid.

The project is slated to begin construction in 2025 and be completed in 2026.

The National Housing Trust Fund is a program that complements existing federal, state and local efforts to increase and preserve the supply of housing for HUD-defined extremely low-income households, including families experiencing homelessness.

More information about the National Housing Trust Fund is available at iowafinance.com.

 

NEBRASKA HEALTH OFFICIALS WEIGH IN AS BIRD FLU MAKES ITS WAY ACROSS THE HEARTLAND

OMAHA, NE – Every year, birds migrate north for the summer and south for the winter.

During this stretch, the possibility of bird flu reaches a fever pitch. Wild birds can carry H5N1 without showing any symptoms and spread it other other flocks and animals like dairy cows or cats.

So far, more than 60 cases of bird flu have been reported across the U.S. since April. In Nebraska, five cases appeared in poultry flocks, but none in humans or dairy cattle.

“We have had two commercial sites that have broke since the beginning of December, said Nebraska State Veterinarian Dr. Roger Dudley. ”We have had three backyard flocks that have broke so all of those sites have been handled.”

Backyard chicken producers and those who work in commercial facilities can take precautions to cut down on the spread. This includes wearing personal protective equipment like gloves, masks, or coveralls.

“Making sure they change clothes, if they have been on one farm and coming back to their farm,” said Dr. Dudley. “Having dedicated footwear and coveralls for their farm to prevent disease.”

As for humans, transmission is possible, but low. Symptoms feel very similar to the flu. Theses include fever, cough, sore throat, headache, muscle aches and shortness of breath. They usually appear within a window of two to eight days and treated with anit-viral drugs if caught soon.

“If you have had some kind of an exposure whether that is a backyard flock or to wild poultry and you come down with flu like symptoms it would be worth mentioning to your provider,” said Douglas County Health Department Director Dr. Lindsay Huse.

Those who are immunocompromised or have underlying health issues should take extra precautions. Dr. Huse says her department is monitoring any possible mutations.

Experts are actually a little more concerned the virus might mix with something like the seasonal flu and then become easier to spread, like we saw with the swine flu in 2008. The CDC says it is tracking cases very closely as well.

Virus symptoms in birds can vary. They include not drinking or eating, lack of energy, decreased egg productions, coughing, sneezing, and more.

Brett Kreifels has raised chickens since he was five. He owns about 50-60 birds on his property in Springfield, Nebraska. Brett says he is monitoring the virus closely and doing what he can to prevent further spread.

“So staying away from bodies of water where ducks and geese kind of migrate to or land on. Kind of keeping the wild birds out because studies have shown the virus can also be found in songbirds,” said Kreifels. “Kind of looking at sparrows or starlings, those are the kinds of birds we do not want in our chicken houses. Then biosecurity in terms of if someone else has chickens not having them on our property and vise versa.”

Brett tries to keep wild waterfowl out of his flock as they can carry and help spread the virus among other precautions.

If members of your flock show signs of bird flu, contact your local veterinarian. Should one parish on your property, be very careful when removing it from the coop and contact the Nebraska Department of Agriculture for testing.