I would like to thank the residents of Millstone Township, Upper Freehold Township and Allentown who signed the petition against the Common Core State Standards. If you feel as strongly as I do, please show up at school board of meetings and publicly state your concerns.
Common Core is not a state-led initiative. It was created by a group of leaders and corporations who stand to profit from having a monopoly on education, standardized testing and our students’ personal information.
Common Core is heavily funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Linda Darling-Hammond, an education adviser for President Barack Obama’s campaign.
Common Core standards take away the rights of the state and leave us wide open for the federal government to be completely in charge of our children’s education.
Education should be run by each individual state as stated in the 10th Amendment. The United States gives no authority to the federal government regarding the education of its citizens. The power to educate the citizens, as well as children of citizens, rests solely upon the states.
Common Core has all been done without any field testing, cost analysis, public input hearings or parental involvement.
There are two bills pending in the state Legislature: S2154 creates an education reform review task force, and delays certain uses of certain assessments and certain changes to the teacher evaluation system; and A3081 establishes a Common Core State Standards evaluation task force and delays the use of assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers until the task force submits its final report.
You can get involved by calling your state representative and asking him to vote “yes” on these bills. Here’s hoping that they both pass. Thanks to all who signed the petition. It is now your turn to let your voices be heard. Don’t give up. Gina Crane Millstone Township