You can’t stick corks into the side of the Titanic to save the people on the ship, and you can’t stick amendments into evil bills and then in good conscience vote yes on them. We are building and voting for our own children’s cages in the belly of a sinking ship.
Read the current ed reform bill amendments here; some are dancing about the Zeldin amendment because it “allows” states to opt out of Common Core. STATES ALREADY CAN do that. The point is that the feds bribe states not to, and states don’t. Then the feds push out data systems that nobody is smart enough to not build.
If I sound a little bit angry, that’s because I am typing. If you were here in the room you would want earplugs. I am very angry, very disappointed. Very loud inside my own little furious head and home.
I’m speaking about the twin bills in the House and Senate to be voted on; one today, HR5 which we all shot down in April; the other bill, S1177, will get a vote soon.
See American Principles Project’s excellent, short pdf (with references) on HR5 here; the their pdf on S.1177 here.
I know I’m not smarter than my senators and representatives. I can read, and so can they. So why, why, why are they NOT telling we, the people, who call their offices that they are unequivocally voting NO on these bad twin ed reform bills, HR5 and S1177? I have to assume that the represenatives are not studying these 300, 600, 800 page monsters; that they are relying on the talking points of the bill’s authors. If so, the reps are revealing dangerous incompetence– carelessness with our precious liberty and our precious children.
I do realize that our representatives are busy. But these are dire circumstances that affect children so negatively. We elected and pay these friends. We entrust them with the futures of our public school children. Yet, I don’t know if I believe they are reading the bills. Orrin Hatch is promoting S1177. But I’m concerned about the entire Utah delegation of senators and representatives -and many others outside Utah.
In what universe is it okay for a senator or a representative to vote yes on a bill that does what HR 5 does?** It:
- Cements the unconstutitional Fed Master- State Servant relationship
- Attacks parental opt out movement – kills parental opt out rights
- Hacks off religious freedom and autonomy for any private schools that receive federal dollars for any of their programs
- Pretends that federal FERPA hasn’t been shot full of holes and depends on FERPA for privacy rights (what privacy rights?)
- Fails to require parental consent for state data mining of children’s personally identifiable data
- Creates unelected committees that have real power over state citizens who did not elect them
- Fails to provide enforcement for autonomy which means there won’t be any state autonomy
- Extends federal tentacles and data collection to preschoolers
- Reinforces socialist alignment of schools to workforce, putting economy first without regard for students
- Retains federal testing mandates
- Promotes psychological profiling of students
**Below, I am posting section numbers for the reference of those who want to see the language with their own eyes.
In what universe is it okay for a senator or a representative to vote yes on a bill that does what S1177 does?***
- Pretends to protect us from federal overreach with redundant, nonhelpful language
- Aligns us to “college and career ready” standard which ARE Common Core, federally defined elsewhere
- Cements the unconstutitional Fed Master- State Servant relationship
- Mandates that States answer to the Feds even on altering state standards
- Retains federal testing mandates
- Adds to the list of programs a state must consult and aligns with workforce (socialism) program
- Dictates types of testing
- Forces out the parental opt out movement
- Narrows the definition of “mental health” and “school climate” that reduces student religious and political expression
- Probes into psychological data collection on children without parental consent
- Fails to require parental consent for state data mining of children’s personally identifiable data
- Extends federal tentacles and data collection to preschool
***Below, I am posting section numbers for the reference of those who want to see the language with their own eyes.
The list could go on and on and on.
I don’t get it. I really do not understand these politicians. I really do not.
Our children deserve better. So much better!
I’ll be wasting spending time and breath all day today, again, calling 202-224-3121 to get my senators’ and reps’ attention. Feel free to join me. Even though it feels like we are sticking corks into the side of the Titanic. May God help us.
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“THE STUDENT SUCCESS ACT”
**HR5 section numbers for reference:
- Master and Servant unconstitutional relationship in cement:
“For any State desiring to receive a grant under this subpart, the State educational agency file with the Secretary a plan,” “Each State plan shall demonstrate [to the federal agents]” – 1111(a)1 –
“Approval: The Secretary shall approve a State plan within 120 days of its submission; disapprove of the State plan only if the Secretary demonstrates how the State plan fails” – 1111(e)1B
“The Secretary [federal] shall have the authority to disapprove a State plan” – 1111(e)2 D
“If a State makes significant changes to its State plan, such as the adoption of new State academic standards or new academic assessments, or adopts a new State accountability system, such information shall be submitted to the Secretary under subsection (e)(2) for approval.” – 1111 (f)
“If a State fails to meet any of the requirements of this section then the Secretary shall withhold funds” – 1111(g)
- Attack on parental rights via stopping opt out movement:
“Assessments shall… be administered to not less than 95 percent of all students, and not less than 95 percent of each subgroup of students”- 1111(b)(2)(B)(xiii)
- Hacking off religious freedom and autonomy for any private school receiving any federal dollars for programs:
“The control of funds provided under this subpart, and title to materials, equipment, and property purchased with such funds, shall be in a public agency, and a public agency shall administer such funds, materials, equipment, and property… independent of such private school and of any religious organization.” 1120(d)(2)(B)
- Pretending that federal FERPA hasn’t been shot full of holes and depending on FERPA for privacy rights (what privacy rights?)
“Information collected under this section shall be collected and disseminated in a manner that protects the privacy of individuals consistent with section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act and this Act.” – 1111(i) For more on FERPA’s deliberate loosening (destruction) by the Dept. of Ed, see the E.P.I.C. lawsuit.
- Failing to require parental consent for state data mining of children’s personally identifable information
Nada. Do a word search for “SLDS” or “State Longitudinal Database Systems” or “SIF” or “CEDS” and you will find nothing. There is no protection. There is no informed consent. There is no parental-consent requirement– not here and not in FERPA.
- Creating unelected committees that have real power over state citizens who did not elect them. (And using these unelected groups to eliminate policies that don’t match federal policies)
“State rules, regulations, and policies… conform to… the committee of practitioners”
“Each State educational agency that receives funds under this title shall create a State committee of practitioners”
“Eliminate the rules and regulations that are duplicative of Federal requirements… identify any duplicative or contrasting requirements between the State and Federal rules or regulations; report any conflicting requirements to the Secretary… (1403)
- Failing to provide enforcement for autonomy which means there won’t be any state autonomy from the feds.
State autonomy is in no way enforceable by HR5. It’s not in there. That is the problem. It’s just talking points about state’s rights, with no support.
- Extending federal tentacles and data collection to preschoolers.
“perform child-find screening services for the preschool-aged children of the tribe” – 5133 a
“assessment of family-based, early childhood, and preschool programs for Native Hawaiians” – 5304 (c) 2
“evaluate the aggregate short- and long-term effects and cost efficiencies across Federal programs… under this Act and related Federal preschool, elementary, and secondary programs” – 6601
“improve the identification of homeless children (including preschool-aged homeless children and youths) ” – 702
“Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths established in each State shall— gather and make publically available… comprehensive information on— the number of homeless children and youths identified… the nature and extent of the problems homeless children and youths have in gaining access to public preschool programs” – 702
“collect data for and transmit to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may require, a report containing information necessary to assess the educational needs of homeless children and youths within the State, including data necessary for the Secretary to fulfill the responsibilities… including teachers, special education personnel, administrators, and child development and preschool program personnel – 702
“Plans required: … how the local educational agency will use funds under this subpart to support preschool programs” – 1112
- Reinforcing socialist alignment of schools to workforce, putting economy first without regard for students
“Each State plan shall demonstrate [to the feds] that the State has developed and is implementing a single, statewide accountability system to ensure that all public school students graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary education or the workforce” -1111 (This is repeated and repeated. A word search for “workforce” turns up 22 times in this bill.)
- Retaining federal testing mandates
“Academic assessments… shall— be used in determining the performance of each local educational agency and public school… be aligned with the State’s academic standards and provide coherent and timely information about student attainment of such standards… be consistent with… nationally recognized… technical standards… be administered in each of grades 3 through 8 and at least once in grades 9 through 12… in the case of science, be administered not less than one time during—grades 3 through 5; grades 6 through 9; and in the case of any other subject chosen by the State, be administered at the discretion of the State; measure individual student academic proficiency and, at the State’s discretion, growth… be administered through multiple assessments during the course of the academic year that result in a single summative score that provides valid, reliable, and transparent information on student achievement … enable results to be disaggregated… be administered to not less than 95 percent of all students, and not less than 95 percent of each subgroup of students described in paragraph (3)(B)(ii)(II); and be the same academic assessments used to measure the academic achievement of all public school students… provide for— the participation in such assessments of all students… produce individual student interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports regarding achievement on such assessments in … uniform format…” –1111
- Promoting psychological profiling of students
“Assessments … (xi) “produce individual student interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports regarding achievement on such assessments” -1111
As American Principles in Action pointed out, “HR5 does nothing to stop NAEP from implementing its planned and unconstitutional affective probing of students’ “mindsets,” “grit,” or other psychological traits. (To see the Dept. of Education’s recommendation that schools engage in psychological and biometric profiling, read its report here, especially page 44.)
“THE EVERY CHILD ACHIEVES ACT”
***S1177 section numbers for reference:
- Pretending to protect states and parents from federal overreach using redundant, nonhelpful (and contradictory) language
First the bill raises our hopes; the talking points sound good; maybe this won’t be a federal sledgehammer to parents and states. The bill’s sections 5001-5010 (a large chunk of the very large bill) even go under the title “Empowering Parents and Expanding Opportunity Through Innovation”. Sounds nice. But deep inside, the bill almost conceals ugly and unconstitutional words like this:
“State plan disapproval: The Secretary shall have the authority to disapprove a State plan” –1004
“If the Secretary determines that a State plan does not meet the requirements of this subsection or subsection (b) or (c), the Secretary shall, prior to declining to approve the State plan immediately notify the State of such determination… offer the State an opportunity to revise” –1111
“A State educational agency may use not more than 5 percent of the amount made available to the State… for the following activities…”
- Aligning the U.S. to “college and career ready” standards which are Common Core, federally defined elsewhere.
“Closing student achievement gaps, and preparing more students to be college and career ready” -2501(4) (Making everyone common does tend to close the achievement gaps, by slowing those who would otherwise soar ahead of the mediocre and the slow.)
- Cementing the unconstitutional Fed-Master/State-Servant relationship
“State plan disapproval: The Secretary shall have the authority to disapprove a State plan” –1004
“For any State desiring to receive a grant under this part, the State educational agency shall submit to the Secretary a plan…” – 1111
- Retaining federal testing and standards mandates
“Same standards: … standards required by subparagraph (A) shall be the same standards that the State applies to all public schools and public school students” –1111 (Do you want to give the feds the authority to dictate uniformity to us? What if a state wants to be innovative and diverse and various? That won’t be allowed by this federal law.)
“Alignment: Each State shall demonstrate that the challenging State academic standards are aligned with entrance requirements, without the need for academic remediation, for the system of public higher education in the State; relevant State career and technical education standards; and relevant State early learning guidelines” –1111
“Measures the annual progress of not less than 95 percent of all students, and students in each of the categories of students” -1204
“Measure the annual progress of not less than 95 percent of all students and students in each of the categories of students” – 1205
- Adding to the list of programs States must consult, and aligning with workforce socialism program
“(aa) student readiness to enter postsecondary education or the workforce” -1111 (repeated many times)
“an application … shall include the following: A description of… assets, identified by the State… which shall include— an analysis of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education quality and outcomes in the State… labor market information regarding the industry and business workforce needs within the State….” –2504
- Dictating types of testing– including using nonacademic, interpretive, and diagnostic student reports
“produce individual student interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports… include information regarding achievement on academic assessments aligned with challenging State academic achievement standards… in uniform format” –1111(b) (2) (B) (vi) (xiii)
“(vi) involve multiple up-to-date measures of student academic achievement, including measures that assess higher-order thinking skills and understanding, which may include measures of student academic growth and may be partially delivered in the form of portfolios, projects, or extended performance tasks” – 1111 (b) (2) (B) (vi)
Assessments must “be administered through a single summative assessment; or be administered through multiple statewide assessments during the course of the year if the State can demonstrate that the results of these multiple assessments, taken in their totality, provide a summative score” – 1111 (b) (2) (B) (viii)
“(xiii) be developed, to the extent practicable, using the principles of universal design for learning.” – 1111 (b) (2) (B) (xiii)
- Forcing out the parental opt-out movement; also, booting family out and putting government in to the center of the universe.
Crushing opt outs, each state test must “Measures the annual progress of not less than 95 percent of all students, and students in each of the categories of students” -1204
Same: “Measure the annual progress of not less than 95 percent of all students and students in each of the categories of students” – 1205
Schools to be far, far more than places to learn numeracy and literacy: “21st Century Learning Centers… an array of additional services, programs, and activities, such as youth development activities, service learning, nutrition and health education, drug and violence prevention programs, counseling programs, art, music, physical fitness and wellness programs, technology education programs, financial literacy programs, math, science, career and technical programs, internship or apprenticeship programs, and other ties to an in-demand industry sector” – 4201
“address family instability, school climate, trauma, safety, and nonacademic learning.” -7304
COMMON CORE 