News
Rep. Mayfield Files Educational Sovereignty Bill Even Jeb Bush Should Like
February, 2015The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition is very grateful and happy to announce that Representative Debbie Mayfield (R-Indian River) has filed HB 743 on educational sovereignty for Florida. The bill has two main components:
- It prohibits the state of Florida from ceding sovereignty over education matters-
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Department of Education or a district school board may not enter into any agreement, memorandum of understanding, or contract with a federal agency or private entity that cedes or limits the state's or school district's control over the development, adoption, or revision of the state's academic content standards or corresponding assessments, including, but not limited to, agreements, memoranda, or contracts for funding public schools.
-
The bill prohibits standardized testing, as well as school grades and teacher evaluations based on those tests until the standards are changed.
Here are some quotes from the former governor:
"I'm for higher standards," he said. "And I'm for creating real restrictions of the federal government's role in this so you can alleviate people's fears that you're going to have some kind of control by the federal government of content or curriculum or even standards." (During press availability after his February 10th summit) - This bill protects does exactly what governor recommends from the perspective of the state.
"And in my view, the rigor of the Common Core State Standards must be the new minimum in classrooms." (From Bush's Foundation summit speech 11/19/14 with FSCCC analysis) - Laying aside for a moment that even the chief architects and proponents of Common Core like David Coleman, Jason Zimba, and Bill Gates admit that the standards are neither rigorous nor tested, this statement should promote the idea that Florida's standards should still be changed to something like the proven pre-Common Core standards of states like Massachusetts, Indiana, California, Texas, Minnesota and yes, Florida, whose standards are said by the administration to be the foundation of Common Core.
"This bill is a great way to deal with federal overreach and the very problematic standards," said Randy Osborne, director of research for Florida Eagle Forum and Heartland Research."And in my view, the rigor of the Common Core State Standards must be the new minimum in classrooms." (From Bush's Foundation summit speech 11/19/14 with FSCCC analysis) - Laying aside for a moment that even the chief architects and proponents of Common Core like David Coleman, Jason Zimba, and Bill Gates admit that the standards are neither rigorous nor tested, this statement should promote the idea that Florida's standards should still be changed to something like the proven pre-Common Core standards of states like Massachusetts, Indiana, California, Texas, Minnesota and yes, Florida, whose standards are said by the administration to be the foundation of Common Core.
"We are very grateful for the strong stand that Representative Mayfield has taken to support local control, parental rights and academic excellence," said Meredith Mears of Florida Parents RISE.
"This legislation definitely embodies the concepts of limited government upon which our organization was founded and for which our many member groups fight every day," said Catherine Baer, chairwoman of the TEA Party Network.
All of these organizations look forward to working together on this sovereignty bill as well as with the legislature, Governor Scott, parents and citizens all over the state to protect the hearts and minds of our children and sovereignty, local control and parental rights.
