CD 19 Candidate Debate - Benaquisto Wants to Work Within FedEd System, Others Want Out

The April 9th debate between businessman Curt Clawson, Dr. Page Kreegel, Dr. Michael Dreikorn, and Senator Lizbeth Benaquisto covered a wide range of topics, but the exchanges on education were particularly revealing.  The entire podcast is available HERE.  The questions on education start at 45:28.   Here are some highlights:
 

Dr. Michael Dreikorn rightly discussed the tenth amendment and how education is not supposed to be a federal initiative and that Common Core was particularly problematic that way.  He also mentioned that he would oppose the data collection under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that does not really protect data.

Dr.  Page Kreegel also clearly stated his opposition to Common Core, decried the federal interference, and spoke about his desire to close down the entire US Department of Education, saving taxpayer about $80 billion per year.

Mr. Curt Clawson, when asked by Daybreak host Drew Steele, what the federal role in education should be stated thate was "one hundred percent against Common Core" and rightly stated that education should be determined by local districts and states.  This statement was agreed to by Dr. Kreegel.

Senator Benaquisto, when chiming in on the federal control question, didn't talk about the tenth amendment or getting rid of the US Department of Education.  Instead, she just wanted to get the money sent from the feds to the states as block grants.  When asked by Drew Steele, "So, a block grant from the federal government, Is that not still federal involvement?" she condescendingly replied (51:57), "Well, we send an extraordinary number of tax dollars to the federal government.  They're your dollars.  If you want to just let them keep them, I suppose we could do that, but I'd rather have them sent back to us where we control the decision making, we devise the plans."  She also talked about the various "lipstick on a pig" measures the legislature has passed to give the appearance of doing something about Common Core and her co-sponsorship of the SB 1316 even though she has done nothing to move the bill in her position as majority leader.

Dr. Karen Effrem was interviewed by Drew Steele the next day to discuss the ongoing efforts by the state to cover up issues with Common Core, the debate, and their interaction with Senator Benaquisto.

Voters in CD 19 will have to decide if they want their representative to continue to work within the unconstitutional federal education system or to stand up for state sovereignty and work to get rid of that awful agency and the programs like Common Core, Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, and other, invasive, expensive programs.  We prefer the former and were not reassured by Senator Benaquisto's answers.

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