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rather boost state revenue through economic growth.
•Sandy Arseneault, president of the South Dakota Education Association, the state's main teachers union, challenged the governor's math, saying it ignores the effect of a freeze in education aid the year before the cut.
•"This funding really doesn't even bring us back to where we should be," Arseneault said.
•TEACHER MERIT PAY
•Daugaard also proposed an education reform plan that would give bonuses to top teachers, phase out tenure and recruit more teachers for critical jobs in math, science and other fields. He said it would improve student achievement by ensuring classrooms had top-notch teachers.
•The teachers union contended it could hurt the quality of education because teachers might stop collaborating as they competed for bonus money. After the Legislature narrowly passed a modified version of the governor's plan, the union collected signatures to put it on the ballot.
•The version voters will consider includes the governor's original plan to give $5,000 annual bonuses to the top 20 percent of teachers in each district, beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. The bonuses would be based on a new evaluation system.
•However, lawmakers also gave districts the ability to create their own teacher reward plans or opt out altogether.
•The bill also would start a scholarship program next year to help college students pursuing teaching degrees in the most-needed subjects. It would give $2,500 annual rewards to qualified math and science teachers beginning in 2014.
•"I'm hopeful the voting public will see this as a step forward to increasing student achievement," Daugaard said.
•But Arseneault said merit pay for teachers has never worked, and the state should instead seek to improve all good teachers.
•"I don't want just a few children to have a great teacher in the classroom," she said. "I want all of our children to have a great teacher."
•ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
•The state Democratic Party collected signatures to force a public vote on Daugaard's law creating a new program that would give incentive grants for large construction grants. The program is aimed at getting businesses to expand or move to South Dakota.
•For years, the state refunded construction taxes for big industrial projects, but that program expires at the end of this year.

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