News

Oklahoma & South Carolina Repeals of Common Core Could Teach Florida Valuable Lessons

June, 2014

The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition sends hearty congratulations and kudos to the parents, teachers, activists, legislators and governors of Oklahoma and South Carolina for their fantastic work in passing true Common Core repeal bills. These bills are not deceptive rebrands such as occurred in Indiana via legislation or here in Florida via executive action. Their language and circumstances have a lot to teach the Florida Legislature and Governor Scott.

Both bills prevent a rebrand, demand that the new standards are not aligned in any way to Common Core, and require legislative approval, especially if adopting standards from outside groups. Oklahoma actually reverts to previous standards while the new ones are developed.

It is especially noteworthy that Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma signed such an excellent repeal and replace bill while serving as the chairwoman of the National Governor's Association. The NGA, which receives 80% of its funding from the federal government, is one of the major developers and proponents of the academically inferior, developmentally inappropriate and psychologically manipulative Common Core standards. Despite this, her signing statement struck the right tone in a number of areas, mentioning the role of parents and the overreach of the federal government:

"Unfortunately, federal overreach has tainted Common Core. President Obama and Washington bureaucrats have usurped Common Core in an attempt to influence state education standards. The results are predictable. What should have been a bipartisan policy is now widely regarded as the president's plan to establish federal control of curricula, testing and teaching strategies," Fallin said.

"We cannot ignore the widespread concern of citizens, parents, educators and legislators who have expressed fear that adopting Common Core gives up local control of Oklahoma's public schools. The words 'Common Core' in Oklahoma are now so divisive that they have become a distraction that interferes with our mission of providing the best education possible for our children. If we are going to improve our standards in the classroom, now is the time to get to work," Fallin added.

If Oklahoma can do it while their governor was head of the NGA and under tremendous pressure from the corporate establishment proponents like the Chamber of Commerce (rightly criticized by Joy Pullman for "Jumping the Shark" on Common Core), there is no reason that Florida cannot stand up to Jeb Bush and his corporate crony partners, including Pearson and Microsoft.

Please contact Governor Scott as follows and urge him to really do something meaningful about Common Core that would include taking us out of the standards and canceling the AIR testing contract:

(850) 717-9337
Email Governor Scott