Laptop project is a good one, but we don't need any spinning on how it was financed

By Gordon Garnos

AT ISSUE: There have been at least three occasions in recent months that the South Dakota Legislature and Governor Mike Rounds have been at serious odds.

The first was the Legislature's enthusiasm to put back $2 million into the Highway Patrol fund until suddenly our governor said, "No" and the patrol didn't get its money. The second was when the Legislature said, "No" to taxing ethanol in a different way, but a directive went out of the governor's office doing exactly that. The third and the one making the most noise is the funding for the third year of the governor's laptop initiative.

While the initiative is most worthwhile, at first there was no money to finance the final year of the project and suddenly, it showed up. The explanation is not sitting well with several legislators.

TSK, TSK, FIRST there was no money left to fund the final year of the governor's controversial plan to put laptop computers in schools across the state. During the last legislative session, solons felt the state's budget was too tight to fund the third and final year of the Classroom Connections initiative to 15 more schools in the state.

Most of the money so far to finance the governor's project came from a settlement with Citibank about unclaimed property a few years ago. During the last session the administration announced that fund had been spent so it should be funded by the state's general fund. The Legislature said, "No," and for all intents and purposes most everyone thought that was the end of it, at least until the next legislative session.

Then, towards the end of May the governor's office announced that it would use $770,000 left over from the Citibank settlement to pay for the initiative. Now legislators from both sides of the political aisle are getting quite cranky over where did that money come from and where has it been. They're saying "Whoa!" to the administration and have set a meeting of the leadership for next month to further investigate what is actually going on. Did the governor side step the will of the Legislature?

I HAVE BOTH HEARD about and read the explanation from Jason Dilges, commissioner of the Bureau of Finance and Management, the governor's budget office, about where the "new" money came from. Now, I'll freely admit I'm no certified public accountant, but what I read sure sounds like creative accounting. Or, if this was a Washington issue, certainly someone would have to say it sounds an awful lot like it was put in a "spin machine" prior to legislative or public consumption.

Needless to say, all legislators aren't upset over the latest laptop happening. According to one newspaper account, Rep. Phyllis Heineman, R-Sioux Falls, "thinks the program must continue if South Dakota students and teachers are to become skilled in the new technology."

It doesn't seem to take much to get Sen. Jerry Apa, R-Lead, a little cranky on budget matters and this issue has him boiling. He is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He made this point, "The numbers don't add up and it's just one more case of the bureaucrats misleading the Appropriations Committee... Some government agencies couldn't spell 'truth' if you spotted them the 'ruth'..."

Several other legislators are agreeing with Apa. Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, said in showing his opposition to the governor on this issue, "We spoke with voluminous voice..."

Speaking against the laptop project, Greenfield said, "It's a multimillion dollar experiment and studies have shown that the result are mixed at best."

I happen to disagree with the Clark senator, but this hasn't been the first time either. So does Sen. Julie Bartling, D-Burke. "I support the laptops, but as with the ethanol tax fight, the legislature said one thing and the governor went ahead and did something else... It's time we quit shrugging these things off."

Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, said, "I am not comfortable with this. A heads-up would have been nice."

It's pretty hard to disagree with these two ladies. It is time we quit shrugging these things off and the "heads-up would have been nice" is an understatement if I ever heard of one. I wonder what the next chapter to all of this will be.....

Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.