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FSCCC Statement on the Common Core Standards Changes and Rebranding Efforts

Commissioner Pam Stewart will be presenting the cosmetic changes for the Common Core standards to the State Board of Education today in Miami Lakes. However, tweaks and name changes will not remove Florida from this oppressive takeover of that which is to be left to the states and the people.  The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition opposes the effort by the Florida Department of Education and the State Board of Education to override the will of hundreds of thousands of Floridians that want to protect their children from this massive takeover of our education system.    As our analysis shows, it is abundantly clear even to the press that the changes to the standards are "minor" and that the rebranding of the Common Core standards to "Florida's Standards" is politically motivated.  The commissioner has testified to the Senate Education Committee that the copyright limitations are immaterial and that the changes are so insignificant that they will not affect curriculum which is required to be Common Core aligned nor the assessments. The testing, however, is the heart of the issue.  The tests are the enforcement mechanism of these national  curriculum standards.  These tests are either going to be the federally funded and supervised PARCC or SBAC tests or some other Common Core aligned national test.  Individual student test scores will be combined with highly personal student and family data to create academic and psychological profiles of students that will be available to the federal government, researchers, and corporations due to the weakening of the federal student privacy law  (FERPA).  The test scores and resulting profile will follow a student for life and will determine grade advancement, graduation, teacher pay and tenure, and district funding.

We urge our supporters to contact Governor Scott at (850) 717-9337 or by email, as well as their representatives and senators and let them know that these bait and switch tactics are unacceptable.  Florida must pull out of the Common Core system and protect the academic future and privacy of our children by developing true Florida standards and tests and pulling out of the federally linked state longitudinal data systems.