State Representative Tom McMillin who has been spearheading our efforts in the Michigan Legislature had an op/ed published in The Detroit News.
“Draw a deep breath,” I tell myself before explaining my opposition to the Common Core system. There’s not one reason to oppose it, there are several. And they go to the core of our being as liberty-loving Americans.
My chief reason is the loss of state autonomy. As the Michigan state superintendent of education admitted to me in writing, Michigan citizens and their representatives in Lansing will not be able to change standards that they don’t like. Teachers must teach to those standards regardless of what the people of Michigan want.
Critical education decisions will now be made by an amalgamation of over 40 states, the trade associations that own the Common Core, and the federal government. And that’s the best-case scenario. It’s hard to see how any one state is going to exert more influence over the process than the federal government and the special interests that own and funded the Common Core. This is incompatible with the fundamental right of parents to shepherd the education of their children.
Special interests and trade associations developed the Common Core plan, not the states. They convinced the federal government to push the system onto the states. They promised that the standards would be internationally benchmarked, would help prepare students for college, and would be rigorous and evidence-based. They then wrote the standards behind closed doors through a process that lacked the hallmarks of good governance.
Read the rest and be sure to leave positive comments.