SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
TEX HALL IS DOWN He lost Tuesday’s election for chairman of the Three Affiliated Tibes, badly, trailing Mark Fox, tribal tax officer, and Damon Williams, tribal attorney. However, don't count Hall completely out -- he is a wily and popular tribal politician.
MINNESOTA HAS A SPECIAL CONCERN Federal authorities say that 20 to 30 Somalis from Minnesota recently left this country to fight with extremists in the Middle East. There is considerable concern that some of them might return and harm the U.S, although that concern is treated delicately in the Minnesota press. However, the public concern clearly registered with Minnesota members of Congress. Rep. Michele Bachmann has introduced legislation that would cancel the citizenship of the fighters and bar them from returning. Rep. Keith Ellison who represents Minneapolis Somalis advocates a more moderate approach. The Dept. of Justice has selected the Twin Cities for a pilot program to combat recruitment by the terrorist group ISIL.
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES brings hundreds of refugees to ND each year -- the majority go to Fargo, secondarily to W. Fargo and Grand Forks. Additional refugees resettle in Fargo from other parts of the U.S. Superintendent Jeff Schatz of the Fargo School District said “We don’t have the dollars in our budget” to support immigrant children. In the 2013-14 school year the cost of the English Language Learner program was $2.3 million. The district would like an additional $1.6 million to hire teachers and specialists. Schatz wants state lawmakers to create separate funding for districts with high ELL needs.
WELCOME THE PEOPLE WE NEED Tom Dennis at the GF Herald believe the U.S. needs to drastically revise its immigration policy. He says we don’t have to look further than Manitoba to find a good example. They focus on, recruit and integrate skilled immigrants. Dennis says, “Canada’s strength is the selective nature of its immigration policy. For neither the country, the provinces nor the communities such as Winkler encourage immigration for immigration’s sake. As a result, a high percentage of immigrants who land in Manitoba soon find good jobs. Soon after that, they’re needing fewer settlement services. Soon after that, they’re buying their own homes, and their children are succeeding in school.” They aim to attract skilled, business minded people from around the world. Europe, mainly Germany, is a popular recruiting destination.
SHIRVANI WAS RIGHT How does higher education in ND stack up with the nation? Not so good. U.S. News attempts not to humiliate -- it breaks school ratings into categories and then further breaks some categories into regions, thereby creating many compartments. But this doesn’t conceal a poor showing by ND schools. The U. of Jamestown is ND’s star -- it ranked #37 in Midwest Regional Colleges. Among national universities, UND was #168 and NDSU #181, the identical rankings of their South Dakota counterparts. Ratings would be even lower if there weren’t numerous ties.
WEAK REGION ND’s state universities ranked low or were unranked. Mayville was unranked as was the U. of Mary in Bismarck. Public colleges and universities in Montana and SD also had weak rankings, although a private college in each state did well. Carroll College in Helena, MT, was #1 in the Western Region; Augustana in Sioux Falls was #3 in the Midwest Region.
LOOKING FOR BLACK LUTHERANS The number of students in Minnesota higher education has been steadily decreasing, while the number in ND has been steadily increasing. Minnesota new-student enrollment has fallen from 62,000 students in 2004 to 49,000 in 2013, a decrease of 21 percent. Concordia College in Moorhead has followed a similar pattern, decreasing from 3,000 students in 1998 to 2,400 today. Concordia concluded it has a “demographic challenge” -- the mostly white school is out of step with the growing proportion of minority students in Minnesota high schools. As a response -- Concordia is creating “diversity scholarships.”
A SMALL CASH PROBLEM In the 2010 census, Williston had a population of 15,000; last year, the estimate was 30,000. Williston’s service area is thought to have around 50,000 residents. The city budget has grown at a much higher rate than the population. In 2011, the budget was $50 million, the estimate for 2015 is $250 million. A big part of the budget goes to new roads, sewer and water. Fargo is ND’s largest city with a population well over 100,000 -- its 2015 budget of $282 million is only moderately larger than that of Williston. Williston simply doesn’t have the money and is considering a $95 million loan from the Bank of ND.
WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER. Columnist Lloyd Omdahl urges voters to defeat Measure 3 to replace the eight- member Board of Higher Education with three full-time commissioners. Omdahl says if Measure 3 makes sense then the 150-member part-time Legislature should replace itself with a full-time panel.
DAKTOIDS: Among ND cities with populations over 1,000, Horace has the highest median household income ($89,000), while Belcourt on the Turtle Mt. Reservation has the lowest ($26,000). Williston’s comparable figure is $70,000 . . . How would you like to work in Human Resources at Williston State? In the last year they had a staff and faculty turnover of 35 percent -- most left for better opportunities or as the president put it: “I smile when employees making five figures leave the college to make six figures.”
DakotaBeacon