Special Interest and Federal Funds used to Herd Politicians and Children into “One-size-fits-all” Inferior Education System
Sherry Few, founder of South Carolina Parents Involved in Education, addressed the Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee, Monday night. The topic was “Common Core” education standards.
SCPIE describes Common Core as “an attempt by Washington, D. C. special interest groups and the Federal Government to herd the states, and our children, into one-size-fits-all national standards.”
Forty-five states were motivated (bribed) to adopt the standards by large amounts of free money. There were millions of taxpayer dollars in the form of “Race to the Top” grants, No Child Left Behind Waivers and private funds from Bill Gates.
Motivated by dollars, most education establishment people either support Common Core or are afraid to speak publicly in opposition. Legislatures in several states are considering legislation to repeal Common Core. It is strongly supported by the U. S. Department of Education, the NEA, National PTA and other normal suspects. It is a centerpiece of the Obama Administration Agenda.
Stanford Professor and Validation Committee Member James Milgram refused to sign off on the final math standards, stating that: “The Common Core Math Standards will place American students two years behind their peers in other high-achieving countries.” He insisted that the Common Core “will not prepare students for selective colleges or
STEM.”
Common Core contains massive unfunded mandates, Few said. The estimated cost to South Carolina is $250 million.
Using a power point presentation, Few emphasized that a major concern of parents is the requirement for “intrusive data mining.”
“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was recently gutted to allow personal data collection without parental consent.”
“Common Core requires states to populate over 3,000 Data Entry points for each student and place the data in a National Registry.”
The data includes:
Test Scores
Disciplinary Records
Health History
Total Family Income
Source of Income
SSN
Baptism Certificate
Parent’s Education Level
Address
Parent Communication Method
School Lunch Participation
Peer Rating Data
Life Insurance Policy
(This data is to be collected and stored on Homeschoolers as well.)
Mrs. Few reported that the Republican National Committee passed a resolution rejecting Common Core.
Senator Tim Scott is one of a dozen U. S. Senators seeking to defund Common Core at the federal level.
Virtually identical bills have been introduced in both the South Carolina Senate and House to repeal Common Core. The House Bill states that:
The State Board of Education may not adopt and the State Department of Education may not implement Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards initiative. Any actions taken to adopt or implement the Common Core State Standards as of the effective date of this section are void ab initio.
House Bill H.3943 is sponsored by Representatives Rivers, Crosby, Chumley, Crawford, Burns, Goldfinch, Bedingfield, Willis, Wood, Gagnon and Loftis.
Senate Bill S.300 is sponsored by Senators Grooms, Bryant, Bright, Martin, Fair, Campsen and Davis.
Sherry Few urged her audience to urge their lawmakers to support the proposed repeals. She also noted that Governor Haley has been less than clear as to whether she is for or against the legislation. The Greenville County School Board can be expected to continue to oppose the legislation and lobby the legislature to kill the bills.
