Retain Local Control of K-12 Education by Parents and States
WHEREAS,
parents will lose control of their children’s K-12 education under the
Common Core State Standards Initiative (Common Core), and this overhaul
of Alabama’s education system will be completed by 2014;
WHEREAS,
most parents remain unaware specific details of Common Core and will be
virtually unable to change programs or correct problems since education
decisions will ultimately be mandated by unaccountable bureaucrats and
special interests in Washington, D.C.;
WHEREAS,
Common Core invades students’ privacy by requiring the collection of
personal, non-academic information, which will be shared with the
federal government and private organizations without parents’
permission;
WHEREAS,
Common Core requires that students be tracked from preschool through
their careers, and the collection of Alabama student data has already
started and will become part of a national database;
WHEREAS,
the U.S. Department of Education is funding the development of national
curriculum guidelines, modes, and materials, as well as national
assessments based on the Initiative’s standards, which creates a
national curriculum and testing system;
WHEREAS,
The U.S. Department of Education is violating multiple federal laws
that specifically prohibit any federal direction, control, or
supervision of curricula, programs of instruction, and instructional
materials in the elementary and secondary schools, and this is an
invasion of states’ rights;
WHEREAS,
Common Core de-emphasizes classical literature and American history,
and will replace literary works about Western Civilization with
informational texts such as executive orders and work manuals, which
will further diminish students’ knowledge of the moral, historical and
cultural foundations of our country;
WHEREAS,
Common Core violates the founding principle that parents and states,
not federal government, control local education, as well as the Alabama
State Constitution of 1901, Article I, Section 35, which states that
“the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the
citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the
government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression;
WHEREAS, implementation of Common Core will cost Alabama taxpayers many millions of dollars to revamp state education systems, although they had no voice or vote in the matter; and
WHEREAS,
it is urgent that the Alabama Legislature exercise its constitutional
authority and duty to protect its citizens against an overzealous
federal government and keep education decisions local by protecting
state education sovereignty, since next year will be too late; now
therefore
BE
IT RESOLVED BY the Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee that we
request the Alabama Legislature to (1) repeal and defund Common Core,
(2) prohibit the collection and sharing of non-academic information on
students by Alabama schools that is inconsistent with the 1974 Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERP) or any update approved by
Congress so as to protect the privacy of students, and (3) require that
any new or revised statewide educational standards that vastly change
the education system to be extensively publicized to ensure that members
of the public, including representatives of political, education, faith
organizations and non-partisan policy institutes are informed and have
ample opportunity to comment before any decision is made.
Submitted by: Elois Zeanah, Alabama Federation of Republican Women
This was sent to me by a friend in Alabama. If you know anything about Common Core and understand its purpose, you will make your changes accordingly, add your own concerns and bring it to the attention of the party of your choice. This Common Core method of teaching is very dangerous to the family and to the student. I hope you will use this as a tool to defeat Common Core in American public schools.
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