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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - The latest scorecard from the nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development shows South Dakota’s economic climate is mixed
Kasey Wiedrich says the state ranks near the bottom because of South Dakota’s lack of policies to help the struggling education system.
Wiedrich says there's a lot the state can do to help. Providing funding for early education, adaquate levels of financial aid for post-secondary education and supporting financial education being taught in schools.
Good grades on the report include South Dakota's policies that expand eligibility for unemployment benefits. But, for familites of color, the report notes starks disparities. Wiedrich says minority homes are far more likely to live below the poverty line than white homes in South Dakota.
She says the disparate outcomes don't only speak to sort of the history of exclusion from the financial mainstream, and discrimination that households of color have faced, but also speaks to future opportunities.
About 28 percent of South Dakota adults have a college degree.
The state also earns good marks for having a low rate of income inequality. The scorecard does suggest that South Dakota lawmakers could help further close the wealth gap by putting more aggressive caps on interest rates of payday lenders.
(Thanks Greater Dakota News Service)