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Summer Hearings Planned to Separate “Fact from Fiction”

Now that the budget has been signed by Governor Snyder, House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) has asked lawmakers to get informed about Common Core.   Toward that goal, Representative. Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R), who chairs the House Education Committee is planning summer hearings on the Common Core.

“I don’t think it’s bad to have standards. It’s a good thing but I do believe questions need to be asked and answered,”  Lyons said some constituents fear the loss of local control, while others have privacy concerns about moving forward with Common Core because they think the federal government will be collecting personal data on students. She said the issue needs to be vetted to separate “fact from fiction.”

The details and timeline for the hearings are forthcoming.  We look forward to the hearings and helping to separate the “fact from the fiction” for Michigan voters and lawmakers.

One of the primary areas of concern is the involvement of the federal government.

At the Mackinac Policy Conference a few weeks ago, Governor Snyder expressed support for Common Core and said,

“We really need to get the facts out of what Common Core is all about,” Snyder said. “It’s an initiative by governors to make us competitive on a global basis. The federal government has nothing to do with common core. We need to clarify that.”

The fact that the federal government has “nothing to do with common core” is pure fiction.

President Obama said in his 2013 State of the Union,

“Four years ago, we started Race to the Top, a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year.”

President Obama is NOT a member of the National Governors Association; yet, he’s taking credit for convincing states to “develop” the smarter curricula and higher standards.  Through federal ESEA waivers and competitive stimulus grants 46 states adopted Common Core State Standards.

The federal government IS involved and federal student data collection is also part of their education overhaul.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said,

“I want to be able to track every child throughout their educational trajectory, so we know what they are doing. Secondly, I want to track children back to teachers, so we know the impact the teachers are having on those children. And third, I want to be able to track those students back to teacher, and teachers back to the schools of education, so we can understand which schools of education and which feeder programs are producing the teachers that are producing the students that had the most gain.”

In a May, 2013 appearance with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  Governor Snyder said,

“Too many people in our country … are looking to fight someone for the sake of fighting…I think the Common Core is a good thing.

Governor Snyder, the fight to Stop Common Core in Michigan is not being fought by some idle folks looking for a brawl.    We are informed Michigan parents, educators, and voters fighting to retain control of Michigan education standards.