ACTION ITEMS FLORIDA AND NATIONAL COMMON CORE

[Leanne King]

There are 2 action items here.

The first is for action in Tallahassee. Please not below and make your calls. The instructions are simple and the message is short. This is urgent as the more I read it is obvious that CC is not only in our public schools here but is hitting our Catholic schools and is headed for the home schools as well.

Common Core Bill
Passed both Senate and House yesterday but sent back to Appropriations for work. Here are the members. Tell them to let it die in committee.

Dwight Bullard 850-487-5039
Nancy Detert   850 487-5028
Bill Galvano   850 487-5026
Bill Montford  850 487- 5003
Maria Lorts Sachs   850 487-5034
John Thrasher   850 487-5006 

Also call the RPOF 850 222-7920 Tell them the RNC passed a resolution against common core and they need to tell their people to vote NO.

 Call Governor Scott 850 488-7146 tell him to veto any bill relating to Common Core.

This is the second action item.

 (If you want to understand the high level issues with CC read this letter.)

It appears that there is some awakening in DC..We need to support those who are stepping out for the truth and for our future. AND we must call our Senators and Reps and strongly suggest that they get on board with shutting Common Core down.

Now Congress is on the bandwagon. WE MUST STRIKE NOW WHILE THE IRON IS HOT. I sent you all an email yesterday about Sen. Grassley (you can find that article further down in the email) Now a Congressman is looking for a full investigation of FERPA changes and Common Core. If you do nothing else PLEASE PLEASE make a call/send an email/send a fax/write a letter (do 1 or do them all)/SHARE this request with friends, neighbors, relatives, and members of your group to your US SENATORs and US HOUSE REP. Ask them to co-sponsor the efforts of Sen. Grassley and Rep. Luetkemeyer. They need to know they have the support of the American people before they will step out against Obama and Duncan on this issue.

We will be taking more actions in the near future but for now lets hit them hard with phone calls. If you can I would also call Sen. Grassley and Rep. Luetkemeye and THANK them for this brave effort. They too need to know we have their back on this issue.

Sen. Grassley 202-224-3744
Rep. Luetkemeyer 202-225-2956

Congressman Luetkemeyer Letter to US DoED
Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) has written, and is gathering co-signers in Washington for, a letter expressing serious concerns with the manner in which the US Department of Education has involved itself with Common Core standards. The letter also notes the highly irregular process used to change the Congressional FERPA allowing the sharing of individual student records. The letter was written with the oversight of the House Education & Workforce Committee and already has interest from republican representatives in UT, IN, KS, MN, MI and even a democrat in IL.

Our understanding from Congressman Luetkemeyer's staff is that Common Core is a very hot topic in DC. That must mean we are on the right path in opposing it.

Here is a copy of the draft letter:

April XX, 2013

The Honorable Arne Duncan

Secretary

U.S. Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary Duncan,

As you know, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

allows Congress to authorize and allocate funding for public K-12 education and, most importantly, is the primary vehicle in which we implement education policy reform. Most recently reauthorized through the No Child Left Behind Act of

2001(NCLB),theESEA’sauthorization

expired on September 30, 2002 and has yet to be reauthorized. SincetheESEA’sexpiration

, the Department of Education (Department) has moved forward with education policy reform without Congressional input.

Such action is, at best, in contravention with precedent.

In addition to expressing our concern with theDepartment’s circumvention of Congress to reformeducation policy, we are writing you to express our concerns with the implementation of Common Core standards and changes to federal data collecti on and disbursement policies.

In 2009, forty-six governors signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Governor’s Association committing their states to the development and adoption of new education standards within three years. As we understand it, states then had the option of adopting Common Core standards or creating their own equivalent standards. At the time, Common Core standards were simply an idea wherestates would collaborate to create uniformed education standards. Details about Common Core were not only unknown to the states, they did not exist.

From there, your department offered Race To The Top

(RTTT) grants and NCLB waivers to states under the condition that teach state

would implement“college and career ready”standards.At the time,the only“college and career ready”standards with the Deparrtment’s approval were Common Core.

In addition to serious concerns we have regarding the Department’s aforementioned

coercion of states to opt in to Common Core standards, many of which were and continue to have serious budgetary issues and specific issues with existing education policies we have become increasingly concerned over the development of the Common Core standards themselves. Though initially promoted as state-base education standards, Common Core standards, as they have been developed over the last few years, are

nothing of the sort. In just one very troubling instance, Common Core standards will replace state-based standardized testing with nationally-based standardized testing  the reaction and initial implementation of which will be funded in full by the federal government.

The long-term, annual administering of the exams, the cost of which has not been specified by the Department, is to be funded by the states.

As representatives from states across the nation, we understand the diverse cultures and state-specific education needs that exist in America

.We believe that state-driven education policy is vital to the success of our children and that Members of Congress can best demonstrate the specific needs of their constituents. As with most one-size-fits-all policies, Common Core standards fail to address these needs.

As you know, because states opted-in to Common Core standards, there is little Congress can do to provide any relief from these burdensome and misguided standards. Instead, the ability to opt-out of these standards lies with the state. With that in mind, we will be working with our respective state legislatures and governors to provide relief to our education systems.In the meantime, we urge you towork with Members of Congress to reauthorize the ESEA in a manner that allows state-specific education needs to be addressed.

Separate from reauthorization, we are extremely concerned over recent changes your department has made to the manner in which the federal government collects and distributes student data.

As you know, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was signed into law in 1974, guaranteeing parental access to student education records and limiting their disclosure to third parties.

FERPA was in tended to address parents’ growing privacy concerns and grant parental acess to the information schools use to make decisions that impact their children.

Once again circumventing Congress, in 2011 your agency took regulatory action to alter definitions within FERPA. With the technological advances that have occurred in recent years, changes to FERPA deserve the full scrutiny of the legislative process more so than ever before.

In addition, we understand that as a condition of applying for RTTT grant funding, states obligated themselves to implement a State Longitudinal Database System (SLDS) used to track students by obtaining personally identifiable information.

Regarding these two very concerning changes to the manner in which government collects and distributes student data, we formally request a detailed description of each change to student privacy policy that has been made under your leadership, including the need and intended purpose for such changes.

We also request that you submit to us the authority under which the Department has implemented Common Core, FERPA and SLDS.

It is our sincere hope that the Department works with the Legislative Branch to implement any changes to education standards and student privacy policy.

We look forward to your response and welcome the

opportunity to address these issues in the future.

Sincerely,

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer

-

Thank you, God Bless you and God Bless our America.

Leanne

[Leanne King]

URGENT RESPONSE FROM SEN. GRASSLEY'S OFFICE RE DEFUND COMMON CORE IMPORTANT
To:

One of our patriots spoke to Senator Grassley's office and they were told we MUST get Senator Coats from Indiana to sign the letter by April 25. It is a must. So lets turn our attention to Senator Coats.

DC Office Number: 202-224-5623

Request that he sign Senator Grassley's letter to DEFUND COMMON CORE.

[Leanne King]

Ted, yes we are beginning to develop some action items to take. Like attend the school board meetings, etc. We will be on this. More to come

[Jeanne DeSilver]

"Also call the RPOF 850 222-7920 Tell them the RNC passed a resolution against common core and they need to tell their people to vote NO."  I made this call and the lady said "I don't have anything to do with that" and she gave me the numbers for the Republican House (850-488-1993) and Senate (850-487-5184). 

[ted ralston]

are we doing anything to our own school board re: 4th grader who "m I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights to be safer "  I am sure everyone's heard...