Oklahoma needs our help!

Oklahoma Gov. Fallin is head of the National Governor’s Association and a a staunch supporter of Common Core.   Parents and teachers in OK have been able to push back and get a bill, HB 3339 through the legislature which would repeal Common Core.  Gov. Fallin has until June 7 to sign the bill or it dies by pocket veto.    Restore Oklahoma has asked for our help.

Here’s what they would like for you to do:

1. Copy and paste the letter of your choice (you can modify them or write your own as well) into an email.
2. Send it to Mary.Fallin@gov.ok.gov
3. CC it to this address pleasesignHB3399@mail.com so that we can keep track of the number of emails sent
4. If you live in Oklahoma, please also CC your state Representative and Senator so there is a record of the correspondence
5. If you live outside the state, please identify your state in your correspondence

Please pass this information on.  The more letters we can get to her, the better off we’ll be. Also, please send your emails prior to WED. MAY 28th if possible, so we have time to print them out and give them to her if need be.  Here is the sample out of state letter, modify as you see necessary…

OUT OF STATE LETTER:

Dear Governor Fallin,

Oklahoma has the opportunity to set a national precedent – that of breaking the hold over local education exhibited by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.  Please do so by signing HB3399.

Since the federal Department of Education began promoting the Common Core via State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Race to the Top grants, as well as the No Child Left Behind waivers, it has been virtually impossible for individual states who accepted any of these programs to retain local control over their educational standards and tests.  This has translated into, not only parental confusion and frustration over testing and assignments, but isolation from their ability to control and direct the education of their child.

While nearly all parents desire and expect educational excellence for their children, this cannot come without parental input and parent/teacher interaction.  When teachers spend more time on testing than classroom instruction, students flounder and the bond between teacher, student and parent becomes fragile.  Learning is not imparted via testing, but teaching.  The desire for their children to exhibit critical thinking is also nearly universal among parents, yet critical thinking skills are not mastered during protracted periods at a computer that better judges how well a child has mastered the use of electronics than has been educated by their own local teacher inside their local classroom.

Though my family does not reside in Oklahoma, like Oklahoma, our state adopted the Common Core State Standards.   As many Oklahoma families, our family has experienced the frustration of isolation from our children’s educational process set into motion by implementation of the Common Core.

With your signature on HB3399, you not only allow Oklahoma to create those standards and tests best suited for Oklahoma parents and children, but you set a precedent for our state to follow in creating and adopting our own local standards; those best for our state.   By signing HB3399 you not only become a hero to Oklahoma parents and educators, but you provide hope for those in my state as well.

Please sign HB3399.  Put public education back into the hands of those whom best it serves – parents and students.

Sincerely,