FreedomWorks' Whitney Neal responds to the Governor's Washington Post op-ed
By: freedomworks (Diary)
Upon reading last Sunday’s Washington Post opinion column written by Delaware Governor Jack Markell, titled, “The tea party is wrong on the Common Core curriculum,” I was floored at the abundance of inaccuracies and lies by omission.
To date, 45 states have adopted Common Core Standards- in exchange for the opportunity to receive federal stimulus dollars. In the private sector, we call this a “bribe.”
Contrary to the Governor’s claims, the standards were not state-led. They were funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and written by a DC-based organization called Achieve, an organization beholden to corporate donors like the Gates, GE, IBM, Intel, and Pearson- who incidentally, all stand to profit from Common Core.
Under Common Core, your child’s education will be just that- common. Every child will be treated the same, regardless of each student’s individual needs, strengths, or career goals. The expectations for a high school junior in Delaware may be the same as in California as Governor Markell asserted, but the expectation will be a consistent standard of mediocrity.
There has not been any means testing to ensure these standards are successful in the classroom. Content experts who reviewed the standards (only 1 out of 60 being a teacher) were not given any proof that their feedback was received, and their changes were not reflected in the final standards.
Although I am disappointed in the Governor’s opinion regarding federally-mandated education curriculums, I’m not surprised. His own state of Delaware received $119 million to implement Common Core standards and the surrounding requirements through the Federal Race to the Top program (a committee on which he co-chaired).
Apparently a kind word and big check will get you a lot farther in Delaware than just a kind word.
All children deserve access to a quality public education – one that is accountable to parents and local school boards, not Washington insiders and corporations. I will be testifying as an expert witness this Thursday (tomorrow) at 7pm at the Cape Henlopen School Board in Delaware to request that Delaware opt out of Common Core. I invite Governor Markell to attend the meeting, and rethink his position on educational freedom.
Link:
http://www.redstate.com/freedomworks/2013/06/12/delaware-governor-jack-markell-gets-it-wrong-on-common-core-again/
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