How Have Governor Scott's "Strong Words" Stopped Federal Interference and Common Core?
October 3, 2014A recent article chided people who are upset with Governor Scott about Common Core, the deceptive rebrand to the Florida Standards and the lack of real effort against federal overreach. The author wrote: Yet critics blame Scott for issues that are beyond his purview! For example, it's clear that Governor Scott objects to Common Core through his 2013 Executive Order against a curriculum funded by federal non-profits. Using strong words against the Federal government's un-constitutional authority to unilaterally set academic standards for Florida Scott states: "Floridians will not accept government intrusion into the academic standards that are taught to our students." Yet dissenters vow to disregard Scott's successes and are prepared to walk-the-gang-plank for a single issue that has already swung towards Florida state and local standards. The voting public is well aware that Charlie Crist is salivating over this Common Core confrontation and waiting in the wings to re-install the federal Obama/Crist Common Core standards.
What have these "strong words" accomplished? Nothing! What successes have there been? None! Despite Scott saying that " Common Core is out in Florida" we are still in Common Core, deceptively called the Florida Standards by his administration. This has been admitted by Commissioner Stewart, Speaker Weatherford and Jeb Bush. We still have an invasive, expensive test with a pledge to give all of the testing data that include "mindsets" to the federal government. This test is made by a company that is far more into testing behavior and attitudes than academics and admits to data mining individual Florida students and teachers.If Crist were to win and "re-install the federal Obama/Crist Common Core standards," no one would to be able to tell a difference, because that is what we have now.Instead of standing up to the federal government, Governor Scott even said that Lee County was right to rescind its vote to opt out of state tests because Read more
With Mounting Common Core Criticism, Bush May Be More Harm than Help to Scott
October 2, 2014Sunshine State News just reported that former Governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio will be holding a fundraiser for Governor Rick Scott on October 24th as he campaigns for re-election. Reporter Jeff Henderson stated that even though conservatives disagree with Bush on Common Core, that "Scott could have no better people to beat the drums to get Republicans out than Bush and Rubio."Given recent events, we would question that assertion where Bush is concerned. When Bush recently campaigned for Scott, he all but admitted that the Scott administration's elaborate ruse of pretending to care what the people of Florida thought about the standards and changing only 0.9% of them under the deceptive moniker of the Florida Standards was a sham. Bush called the changes "not substantial." That bit of campaign support from Bush has not helped Scott break out of the polling deadlock he is in with Charlie Crist. In fact, both Crist and Scott received low marks for honesty in a recent Quinnipiac poll. The latest Survey USA poll has Scott down 6% to Crist with Adrian Wyllie at 8%. That gives the latest Real Clear Politics average to Crist at 1.4% ahead of Scott for the first time in several weeks. Scott won by less than 2% in 2010 with full conservative support.When Bush went to conservative North Carolina to campaign, even moderate Thom Tillis had to publicly distance himself from Jeb on Common Core. Bush then was raked over the coals by Slate columnist Jamelle Bouie in the Miami Herald over that tone deaf performance: The Tillis affair is representative of Bush's flaws as a candidate. A more-talented politician would have tailored his message to his audience. Indeed, it doesn't take a savant to know that -- if you're supportive -- immigration and Common Core are areas to avoid with a conservative audience. But then, Bush isn't in the same world as rivals like Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul or even Gov. Chris Christie.Since leaving office, Bush has lived in Read more
UPDATE - Jeb Bush Now Blames Obama for Common Core Problems
September 16, 2014As with Rick Scott, Jeb Bush is continuing to have Common Core problems. So much so, that in an interview with the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, he didn't do his usual bashing of Common Core opponents, but rather blamed Barak Obama for the conditional waivers associated with No Child Left Behind. Rubin writes with our comments: Bush may be best known for his education reforms in Florida and his continuing efforts to see comprehensive reform throughout the country. He admits, however, "In the last year or year and a half there has been a stalling-out of the comprehensive reform movement." Common Core has been in the middle of this, with supporters advocating the adoption of high standards originally developed by the states and critics characterizing them as the administration's attempt to take over education. This is a distraction, in Bush's view, along with less central issues like the amount of testing required of children.
COMMENT: This continues to show Bush's tone deafness as both in survey after survey and in numerous scholarly papers, the perception and evidence for federal overreach is plain to see. And if he continues to think that testing is merely a distraction when it takes 40% of instructional time, does not aid teaching, psychologically profiles and career tracks kids, and makes profound decisions for their lives based on just a few tests that are written to be failed, then he will continue to have major problems with the public.
Interestingly, Bush does not castigate Common Core critics for peddling misinformation about the state-developed standards. Instead he invokes a theme conservatives find familiar: "The principal reason [for the fight] has been the president. There is no trust he will faithfully enforce the law." He points to the administration's conditioning No Child Left Behind waivers on adoption of Common Core or equivalent standards, a practice driven not by legislation but by executive whim. "I respect the Read more
Governor Scott's Statements on Lee County & Common Core Continue to Strain Credibility
September 6, 2014In video obtained by Javier Manjerres of Shark Tank, Governor Scott repeats his oft heard deflection and dissembling on the very controversial Common Core standards and tests. Here are several statements that are arguable at best and completely strain credibility at worst:
"I don't want the federal government to run our education system. So here's what we've done. About a year ago we opted out of PARCC, which is the national assessment test."
COMMENT He then opted the state into AIR, which is developing tests for the other national assessment, SBAC; has been involved with the federal government in data collection and other ways for years; admits Common Core is a national curriculum; is a behavioral and social engineering research organization; and promotes social and emotional learning and other controversial topics over academics. (See details).
"We said the federal government is not going to be data mining our students."
COMMENT This is particularly hard to swallow. Scott and the Legislature doubled down on linking Florida's data statutes to FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), the dysfunctional federal privacy law gutted by the Obama administration and containing an entire section of regulations on collecting student data without parental consent. (See analysis). In addition, AIR, chosen by Scott's education commissioner for Florida's state Common Core test, is closely tied to the federal government and student data collection through its Center of the Analysis of Longitudinal Education Research (CALDER), even admitting that it is involved in mining the data of individual Florida students and teachers.
"...So we have Florida standards."
COMMENT - As we have extensively documented, many officials in the Florida Department of Education, Speaker Weatherford, and countless state and national media outlets have stated the truth changing 98 out of 11,000 (0.9%) standards and removing the name from statute Read more
Election Results & Tampa Bay Times' Adam Smith Labels Jeb Bush Loser of the Week
August 31, 2014We couldn't agree more with Adam Smith's assessment of Jeb Bush's political fortunes in the Tampa Bay Times' column The Buzz: Loser of the weekJeb Bush. The Lee County School Board voted to opt out of Common Core. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a presidential contender, sued the federal government over Common Core, while Rick Scott is scrambling to distance himself from Common Core and standardized testing. Bush's strength as a presidential candidate looks much more dubious today than a few months ago, amid widespread backlash against education accountability policies closely associated with him.
In addition, even though, despite the opponents running valiant, but underfunded campaigns (Thanks to Jorge Bonilla, Michael Dreikorn, and those that ran an anti-Common Core platform in CD 26); some of Mr. Bush's preferred candidates did win, there are at least two legislative candidates and a veritable army of school board candidates who won or advanced to the general election on an anti-Common Core or anti-high stakes testing platform. They are ready to do what Lee County did, even though bullying tactics from Tallahassee may reverse that on Tuesday. Here is just a partial list (please let us know who we are missing) with more to come:
Florida House of Representatives:
District 74 - Julio GonzalezDistrict 31- Jennifer Sullivan
School Board
Alachua County
District 3 - Gunner Paulson (won & opposes high stakes testing)District 5 - Rob Hyatt (won & opposes Common Core completely)
Collier County
District 1 - Kelly Lichter (won & opposes Common Core completely)District 3 - Erika Donalds (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)
Flagler County
District 2 - Janet McDonald (advanced and opposes Common Core completely)
Hillsborough County
District 4 - Terry Kemple (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)District 6 - Dipah Shah (advanced & opposes Common Core completely)< Read more
In Reprise of Congressional Special Election RPOF Intervenes in District 30 Senate Primary
August 23, 2014The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) is once again taking sides in contested Republican primaries. After intervening in the special congressional election primary in CD 19 trying to hide behind multiple donations and many super PACs to make sure that Senator Benacquisto received at least $300,000, now they have openly donated another $130,000 to her senate campaign. Benacquisto is running against Dr. Michael Dreikorn, a conservative veteran and aerospace engineer, who also was in the congressional primary. That congressional primary was notable for the high level of negative campaigning by super PACs tied to Benacquisto and another candidate, Dr. Paige Kreegel. Ultimately, Curt Clawson went on to win both the primary and the congressional seat in large part due to his sincere articulate position on Common Core, his dedication to the Constitution, his outsider status, and likely as well, as a backlash to the negative campaigning and interference from outside groups in this race.Former Congressman Gary Lee, who is now serving as committeeman for the Republican Party of Florida expressed concerns about the situation by saying, "If you're doing something that has the perception of not being fair to all candidates then that needs to be addressed in my opinion." Neither Benacquisto nor the RPOF commented on the donations.If the congressional primary is any indication, this kind of behavior on the part of the RPOF, with its strong ties to Jeb Bush, may backfire on the RPOF and Benacquisto. It is imperative that everyone in all the races for school board and state legislature do their homework on this critical issue and support the candidates that have answered the four important questions on Common Core to your satisfaction. Read more
Jeb Bush Endorsee Won't Answer Yes or No Question on CCSS
August 23, 2014There are three candidates in Congressional District 9 vying for the Republican Nomination to take on Democrat Congressman Allen Grayson in the November election. One of them, realtor Carol Platt, is endorsed by Jeb Bush and seems to be supportive of Common Core. Because of the political unpopularity , she is now backtracking a bit and will not answer the question in a straightforward manner as evidenced by audio from the Carl Jackson Show. Platt goes on for several minutes and still does not answer the question.This is in stark contrast to both of the other opponents, especially Jorge Bonilla, who clearly oppose Common Core with Bonilla vowing to defund it and Peter Vivaldi:
If Jeb Bush continues to be deceptive in his portrayals of Common Core in Florida, as he did saying that the standards are gone from Florida and then in the same breath saying that the changes to Common Core were not substantial while campaigning for Governor Scott, it is quite possible that his endorsements will do more harm than good. Read more
Only Bush Endorsee Supports Common Core of Five in CD-26 Miami Race
August 23, 2014Of the five candidates that are running in the August 26th primary to take on Democrat Congressman Joe Garcia in Congressional District 26 that runs from Miami to Key West, only Miami-Dade School Board member Carlos Curbelo supports Common Core. And according to his op-ed in the Miami Herald, he supports it in a big way.In that piece, he used all of the typical pro-Common Core talking points while demonizing the experts and parents that have brought up many legitimate concerns. Here are a couple of the more egregious points: "However, in order to win debates, and more important, elections, conservatives must brandish facts while ignoring scare tactics that yield irrational paranoia. Skepticism should not devolve into callousness, stubbornness, and the rejection of government in all its manifestations. Ours should be the belief that a limited and responsible government can contribute to the advancement of our nation and its people, and nowhere is that fact more evident or more critical than in the area of education. That is why we should support the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for K-12 education."
Translation Government overreach is bad, just not in education. Curbelo is apparently unaware that the RNC; the National Federation of Republican Women; multiple committees within the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF); nearly 30 Republican Executive Committees (RECs) in Florida; and almost all of the potential Republican presidential candidates except for Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Mike Huckabee; have all rejected Common Core. Would he say that any of these people are irrationally paranoid? Miami activist Maria Peiro put it well in the comments for this piece: "The Conservative thing to do is to NOT give up the state and local control over the education of our children. The best form of government is that which is closest to the people. To centralize curriculum and testing and put it in the hands of a few is a huge mistake for which Read more
Support for Common Core Continues to Slide
July 7, 2014Karen R. Effrem, MD - Executive Director
New polling data continues to show that as more people, especially parents and even business people, find out about Common Core, support for those awful standards continues to decline. This verifies data we have previously presented.A June 26th Rasmussen poll shows: "...just 34% of American Adults with children of elementary or secondary school age now favor requiring all schools nationwide to meet the same Common Core education standards. That's an 18-point drop from 52% in early November of last year. Forty-seven percent (47%) oppose the imposition of the national standards, compared to 32% in the previous survey. Little changed are the 19% who are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)"
And a Pew Research poll shows that Common Core is strongly opposed both by "Steadfast" (social, Tea Party) Conservatives and "Business" (Establishment) Conservatives. "The two solidly-Republican groups, Steadfast and Business Conservatives, oppose Common Core by more than two-to-one (61%-25% and 61%-23%, respectively)."
Here is some analysis by writer Libby Nelson on the blog Vox: "Supporters might hope otherwise, but the fight in the Republican Party is over and the standards have lost... ...This is a huge failure for the US Chamber of Commerce. The group spent much of the past year making a case for the standards from a business perspective. The chamber argued that high, uniform expectations in math and language arts will produce better workers and a stronger economy. They made slick videos. They published op-eds. Yet they failed to convince even their core constituency -- business conservatives... ...This is very bad news for the standards' supporters. Right-leaning supporters of Common Core say the standards are a state issue, created for states and by states (and that they wish Education Secretary Arne Duncan would stop talking about them). Opponents argue that the US Read more
#StopJebNow - Jeb Bush Increasingly Isolated & Criticized about Common Core
June 18, 2014Karen R. Effrem, MD - Executive Director
Jeb Bush is becoming increasingly strident and isolated in his support for Common Core. He is often met with protesters as he starts to act like a presidential candidate. Most recently, as in his home state of Florida, he was greeted by parents from Ohioans Against Common Core and members of the Hamilton County Republican Party opposed to Common Core in Cincinnati. Hamilton County is rightly deemed "the most important county in the most important state" because of its bellweather function in elections. Photos of the protest along with this video are courtesy of Ted Stevenot:
Not only is Bush being protested, but he is also becoming more isolated on the political front as other proponents, and especially potential GOP presidential candidates have or are starting to back away or outright reject the standards as federal intrusion into what is constitutionally delimited as a state and local function. Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are the only two potential 2016 candidates that are still openly supporting Common Core.Most of the others have firmly rejected them like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum or Marco Rubio. Bobby Jindal has changed his mind by vetoing a Common Core bill in Louisiana. Scott Walker has mentioned concerns about federal overreach, but has otherwise been non-committal. Probably the worst of the bunch, other than Bush, are Mike Huckabee and Mike Pence who have respectively advocated or perpetrated deceptive "re-branding" or "lipstick on a pig" maneuvers like the Bush inspired and directed ones here in Florida.According to a survey done by Public Policy Polling and reported in Sunshine State News, 50% of voters surveyed in Florida do not want Jeb Bush to run for president compared to 35% who do. According to the article, "While 47 percent of Florida Republicans want Bush to run, 38 percent say he shouldn't. " And, between Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Bush, Read more
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