SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Teachers scramble to gather as many $1 bills as they can from a pile of cash in a competition in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on December 11, 2021. (Photo: News Today/YouTube/screenshot)
'Tax Billionaires Already': Viral Video Shows Teachers Scramble for Cash in 'Dystopian' Contest
"Imagine the U.S. military having to do this for their money," said one disgusted critic.
Dec 13, 2021
Footage of public school teachers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota scrambling on an ice rink to gather one-dollar bills for school supplies went viral over the weekend, with labor leaders and economic justice advocates pointing at the video as the latest evidence that schools are drastically underfunded and corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share in taxes.
Onlookers cheered Saturday night as the teachers participated in the first-ever "Dash for Cash" at a hockey game. Five thousand dollars in one-dollar bills were laid out on a mat on the ice and the educators were given five minutes to stuff the cash into their shirts so they could use the money to buy school supplies and pay for classroom upgrades.
The money was donated by a local mortgage company, CU Mortgage Direct, according to The Guardian.
Human rights attorney Qasim Rashid called the competition "dystopian," "disgusting," and "dehumanizing."
"Tax billionaires already," he tweeted.
"South Dakota treats international money launderers better than teachers."
South Dakota is one of the lowest-ranked states in terms of education spending. According to census data, the state spends more per student than only 13 other states.
Teachers in the state also ranked last-in-the-nation for compensation in 2016 and in 2021, according to the Argus Leader, a newspaper based in Sioux Falls. The chronic low funding for public education sparked a teacher walkout in the city in early 2020. South Dakota teachers are paid an average of $48,984 per year.
A 2018 survey by the U.S. Department of Education showed that teachers in the state spend an average of $350 of their own money to pay for classroom supplies.
"My mother was a public school teacher in South Dakota. She also worked as a waitress and housekeeper to make ends meet," said organizer Nick Estes in response to the Dash for Cash. "This video shows how South Dakota teachers are humiliated just to fund their classrooms today. Imagine the U.S. military having to do this for their money."
While teachers in South Dakota are left scrambling for money to pay for school supplies, as Common Dreams reported last week, the state has become a haven for ultra-rich people looking to hide their assets and avoid taxes. More than 80 out of 106 trusts in the U.S. are located in South Dakota, granting secrecy and protection to the wealthy and powerful.
"South Dakota treats international money launderers better than teachers," tweeted Jason Linkins, deputy editor at The New Republic.
The state is also ending 2021 with an $86 million budget surplus, noted Kooper Caraway, president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor.
Last week, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proposed a 6% increase in education funding for next year, but South Dakota Education Association Loren Paul warned the increase is not enough to fix chronic problems with underfunding.
"Our problem is the years where we don't even meet inflation, and we've had several of those," Paul told local outlet KELO last week.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Footage of public school teachers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota scrambling on an ice rink to gather one-dollar bills for school supplies went viral over the weekend, with labor leaders and economic justice advocates pointing at the video as the latest evidence that schools are drastically underfunded and corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share in taxes.
Onlookers cheered Saturday night as the teachers participated in the first-ever "Dash for Cash" at a hockey game. Five thousand dollars in one-dollar bills were laid out on a mat on the ice and the educators were given five minutes to stuff the cash into their shirts so they could use the money to buy school supplies and pay for classroom upgrades.
The money was donated by a local mortgage company, CU Mortgage Direct, according to The Guardian.
Human rights attorney Qasim Rashid called the competition "dystopian," "disgusting," and "dehumanizing."
"Tax billionaires already," he tweeted.
"South Dakota treats international money launderers better than teachers."
South Dakota is one of the lowest-ranked states in terms of education spending. According to census data, the state spends more per student than only 13 other states.
Teachers in the state also ranked last-in-the-nation for compensation in 2016 and in 2021, according to the Argus Leader, a newspaper based in Sioux Falls. The chronic low funding for public education sparked a teacher walkout in the city in early 2020. South Dakota teachers are paid an average of $48,984 per year.
A 2018 survey by the U.S. Department of Education showed that teachers in the state spend an average of $350 of their own money to pay for classroom supplies.
"My mother was a public school teacher in South Dakota. She also worked as a waitress and housekeeper to make ends meet," said organizer Nick Estes in response to the Dash for Cash. "This video shows how South Dakota teachers are humiliated just to fund their classrooms today. Imagine the U.S. military having to do this for their money."
While teachers in South Dakota are left scrambling for money to pay for school supplies, as Common Dreams reported last week, the state has become a haven for ultra-rich people looking to hide their assets and avoid taxes. More than 80 out of 106 trusts in the U.S. are located in South Dakota, granting secrecy and protection to the wealthy and powerful.
"South Dakota treats international money launderers better than teachers," tweeted Jason Linkins, deputy editor at The New Republic.
The state is also ending 2021 with an $86 million budget surplus, noted Kooper Caraway, president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor.
Last week, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proposed a 6% increase in education funding for next year, but South Dakota Education Association Loren Paul warned the increase is not enough to fix chronic problems with underfunding.
"Our problem is the years where we don't even meet inflation, and we've had several of those," Paul told local outlet KELO last week.
From Your Site Articles
Footage of public school teachers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota scrambling on an ice rink to gather one-dollar bills for school supplies went viral over the weekend, with labor leaders and economic justice advocates pointing at the video as the latest evidence that schools are drastically underfunded and corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share in taxes.
Onlookers cheered Saturday night as the teachers participated in the first-ever "Dash for Cash" at a hockey game. Five thousand dollars in one-dollar bills were laid out on a mat on the ice and the educators were given five minutes to stuff the cash into their shirts so they could use the money to buy school supplies and pay for classroom upgrades.
The money was donated by a local mortgage company, CU Mortgage Direct, according to The Guardian.
Human rights attorney Qasim Rashid called the competition "dystopian," "disgusting," and "dehumanizing."
"Tax billionaires already," he tweeted.
"South Dakota treats international money launderers better than teachers."
South Dakota is one of the lowest-ranked states in terms of education spending. According to census data, the state spends more per student than only 13 other states.
Teachers in the state also ranked last-in-the-nation for compensation in 2016 and in 2021, according to the Argus Leader, a newspaper based in Sioux Falls. The chronic low funding for public education sparked a teacher walkout in the city in early 2020. South Dakota teachers are paid an average of $48,984 per year.
A 2018 survey by the U.S. Department of Education showed that teachers in the state spend an average of $350 of their own money to pay for classroom supplies.
"My mother was a public school teacher in South Dakota. She also worked as a waitress and housekeeper to make ends meet," said organizer Nick Estes in response to the Dash for Cash. "This video shows how South Dakota teachers are humiliated just to fund their classrooms today. Imagine the U.S. military having to do this for their money."
While teachers in South Dakota are left scrambling for money to pay for school supplies, as Common Dreams reported last week, the state has become a haven for ultra-rich people looking to hide their assets and avoid taxes. More than 80 out of 106 trusts in the U.S. are located in South Dakota, granting secrecy and protection to the wealthy and powerful.
"South Dakota treats international money launderers better than teachers," tweeted Jason Linkins, deputy editor at The New Republic.
The state is also ending 2021 with an $86 million budget surplus, noted Kooper Caraway, president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor.
Last week, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proposed a 6% increase in education funding for next year, but South Dakota Education Association Loren Paul warned the increase is not enough to fix chronic problems with underfunding.
"Our problem is the years where we don't even meet inflation, and we've had several of those," Paul told local outlet KELO last week.
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.