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longer. That, in turn, means more money needs to be pumped into the system, both from those working and from fund investments, to ensure adequate funding so the pension system can meet its obligations.
• South Dakota's public pension system has more than 74,000 members and their families. To make sure their future needs are met, the system has to take steps periodically to make sure it will have the money on hand to meet those obligations. The goal of the system is to be self-sustaining and that's the way it should be. The last thing anyone wants to see is the taxpayers having to pitch in to the keep the system afloat, as what's happening in numerous states across the country.
• ___
• Argus Leader of Sioux Falls. Sept. 11, 2012
• Graduation rates still need boost
• When it comes right down to it, measuring graduation rates can be misleading.
• In the Sioux Falls School District's case, incorrect rates from last year made this year's graduation numbers look poor. When the error was found, all of a sudden this year's numbers showed improvement.
• For some reason, the numbers tracking doesn't feel productive and even seems a bit like gamesmanship. Why wasn't the error found earlier? Did the district take the steps to find only mistakes that improved its position or did it strive to simply be accurate, no matter what the numbers show -- good or bad?
• Certainly, if the rate of students graduating from our schools is increasing and it can be accurately documented that the trend is going in the right direction over the long term, that's important.
• People don't care about excuses or reasons why numbers might have been wrong. And in this case, it isn't important to point fingers at who might have made a mistake.
• The very definition of "graduation rate" can be confusing as well. There's a standard rate that all schools report, and there is a different rate that the district calculates, taking into account students who take more than four years to get through or end up getting a GED, neither of which is counted in the state rate.
• What is important is that the district continues to work with every student to get them to learn and graduate. We realize 100 percent is lofty, maybe even unreasonable. But when the district reported this spring's standard graduation rate is 79.1 percent and called that "good news" because it was better than 75.3 percent a year earlier, that seems short-sighted.
• When more than 20 percent of students are not making it under the rules that all districts must follow, we have work to do. It's time to stop the numbers spin. It does

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