1. Scott Walker: Let’s Create Another Educrat Committee

Joy Pullman’s new must-read article at The Federalist is: “Seven Things Politicians Will Say to Make You Think They Oppose Common Core”.

Linked, documented and easy to read, this article delivers a long-needed direct punch to the gut of the hypocritical politicians (and school board candidates and others) who claim to be “for local control,” for parents’ rights, for teachers, for children—- some even claim to be against Common Core— but all the while, their left hand is undoing whatever their right hand does.  Pullman’s article explains this hypocrisy so well.  Her seven points are:

 

2. Mike Pence: But We Can’t Lose Our NCLB Waiver

3. Mike Huckabee: It’s Not Common Core, It’s the Name

 

4. John Kasich: We Still Have Local Control

 

5. Jeb Bush: I Will Never Support a National Curriculum

 

6. Bobby Jindal: The Feds Ruined Common Core

 

7. Senators: I Can’t Do Anything Because It’s a State Issue

Pullman also exposes the still-little-known fact that Common Core is NOT just academic standards but also common data standards and databases.

She explains that the federal government is “sending states millions to create identical student databases that plug directly into Common Core K-12 testing pipelines so everyone’s personal information can be collected in a government dossier. Are these senators saying they have no power to stop things they or their predecessors (mostly) authorized? Are they saying they can’t sign onto bills that prevent federal involvement with Common Core, testing, or curriculum? That once an executive decides to run all over Congress and the laws, no one can stop him? If so, time to get someone else into their offices who thinks Congress is more than a bunch of bobble heads. At the very least, they could be honest like Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who recently went from supporting Common Core to opposing it, and to prove his conversion has introduced a bill that would prohibit the federal government from mandating or incentivizing curriculum mandates, tests, or curriculum. It seems to be a strong bill, but here’s the problem: The U.S. Department of Education is already ignoring three laws that prohibit its Common Core-pushing. Adding another doesn’t seem likely to change its behavior. That means what really needs to happen is cutting USDOE off at the knees by slashing its budget and responsibilities.

Any takers? Rand Paul? Anyone?”

Read the rest here.

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Thank you, Joy Pullman.

 

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http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56236233-78/standards-state-education-lee.html.csp

Utah senator joins others in signing letter opposing the Common Core.

By Lisa Schencker

|Reposted highlights from Salt Lake Tribune article

First Published Apr 29 2013 06:48 pm

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has jumped into the ongoing fray over Common Core State Standards, signing a letter asking Senate budget leaders to “restore state decision-making and accountability.”Lee, along with eight other Republican senators, sent the letter to the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds education on Friday. The letter asks that any future education appropriations bill includes language prohibiting the U.S. Secretary of Education from using the money to implement or require the standards in any way, in hopes of eliminating “further interference by the U.S. Department of Education with respect to state decisions on academic content standards.”

“The decision about what students should be taught and when it should be taught has enormous consequences for our children,” the letter says. “Therefore, parents ought to have a straight line of accountability to those who are making such decisions. State legislatures, which are directly accountable to the citizens of their states , are the appropriate place for those decisions to be made, free from any pressure from the U.S. Department of Education.”

In an interview with the Tribune Tuesday, Lee declined to comment on Utah’s adoption of the standards, saying his concern is with keeping the federal government out of state and local education decisions.

“If they choose to adopt them, I hope they do so because they’re relevant standards and local leaders think they’re good standards not because of any federal mandate,” he said of states’ adoption of the standards. He said, so far, he’s noticed “disturbing trends” in the direction of the federal government becoming overly involved in pushing the standards.

Utah proponents of the standards, however, have long fought against arguments that they were federally developed or imposed. The Utah state school board adopted the standards in 2010 in hopes of better preparing students for college and careers. The standards — developed as part of a states-led initiative — outline the concepts and skills students should learn in each grade, while leaving curriculum decisions up to local teachers and districts.

Critics of the standards point out that the federal government, several years ago, encouraged states to adopt the standards as they applied for federal Race to the Top grant money. They also point to a federal requirement that states adopt college- and career-ready standards in order to receive a waiver to No Child Left Behind .

But Utah did not win that money, and to receive waivers, states could adopt either Common Core standards or different standards of their choosing…

lschencker@sltrib.com

Senator Mike Lee of Utah joined other senators — Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), James Inhofe  (R-Okla.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), and Jeff  Sessions (R-Ala.) in signing Iowa Senator Grassely’s letter that points out that the Dept. of Education must be restrained from funding and promoting nationalized standards and must not be allowed to continue the illegal implementation of Common Core with federal tax monies.

The letter said:  “”While the Common Core State Standards Initiative was initially billed as a  voluntary effort between states, federal incentives have clouded the picture.  Current federal law makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education may not be  involved in setting specific content standards or determining the content of  state assessments. Nevertheless, the selection criteria designed by the U.S.  Department of Education for the Race to the Top Program provided that for a  state to have any chance to compete for funding, it must commit to adopting a  ‘common set of K-12 standards’ matching the description of the Common Core. The  U.S. Department of Education also made adoption of ‘college- and career-ready  standards’ meeting the description of the Common Core a condition to receive a  state waiver under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Race to the Top  funds were also used to fund two consortiums to develop assessments aligned to  the Common Core and the Department is now in the process of evaluating these  assessments.”

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/eight-senators-join-fight-against-common-core-94876/#DUmSios6cdzc1Orf.99  and http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2013/04/eight-senators-join-chuck-grassley-fight-to-defund-common-core/

Utah’s D.C. Senator, Mike Lee, also wrote yesterday at his official website:

Common Core Polluted by Federal Guidelines and Mandates

“The first principle of education, and therefore of education policymaking, is that parents are the primary educators of their children. And because responsibility for children’s education lies primarily with parents, to the greatest extent possible so should decision-making authority over Pre-K to secondary education. The further such decisions are removed from the parents and guardians of children, the further they are removed from those who will promote the best interests of students. Therefore federal influence over pre-K, elementary, and secondary education should be limited. Neither members of Congress nor Department of Education bureaucrats can be expected to promote the interests of individual students – with unique talents, interests, and learning styles – more than those students’ own parents, teachers or principals.

While the Common Core Standard Initiative was initially promoted as an effort to move in this direction, it has become polluted with Federal guidelines and mandates that interfere with the ability of parents, teachers and principals to deliver the education our children deserve.”  Read More Here

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Thank you, Senators Lee, Grassley, Coburn, Cruz, Fischer, Inhofe, Paul, Roberts, and Sessions.

As a teacher, as a parent, and as a believer in the wisdom of the U.S. Constitution, I can not thank you enough.