The Michigan Republican State Convention is this weekend. The big story leading up the event is whether Brian Calley will retain his position as the Lt. Governor. Delegates to the convention choose the Lt. Governor and Common Core may be the deciding factor in whether he gets the votes he needs to keep his job. But that is where the problem begins to emerge, where does Brian Calley stand on Common Core? No one seems to know for sure.
Jay McNally, a Republican precinct delegate from Ann Arbor, has noticed the silence of Lt. Governor Calley. He has made Common Core a signficant factor for his vote on Saturday. In a Facebook comment wrote,
“Common Core is a battle worth fighting. It will transform education from top to bottom, which is why those who take time to really understand it are so frantic. There is no comprehensible reason any Republican can support it…the Lt Gov race is more than a trifle about “who pounds a gavel” in the State Senate.…Medicaid Expansion was the unforgivable vote, and Common Core is not far down the list.”
Common Core, the P-20 cradle to career” education reform, was adopted in 2010 with the full support of Governor Jennifer Granholm. It was clear from Governor Snyder’s first State of the State address in 2011, that he was going to continue the Democrat education policy and “reinvent” education from “prenatal to lifelong learning.” He said,
“It is time that we view our education system which runs from prenatal to lifelong learning. It’s time to start talking about P-20 instead of just K-12.”
Governor Snyder, in a joint appearance with President Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last year, affirmed his support for Common Core
“I think the Common Core is a really important opportunity, and I think it’s a good thing,” Snyder said.
By supporting P-20 Common Core reforms, Governor Snyder is not supporting the Republican platform or what is good for children; instead, he is continuing the progressive policies of Gov. Granholm and President Obama.
The Republican National Committee came out with a strongly worded statement against Common Core last spring and he has shoved the party aside. Common Core is not good for children and he has shoved the children aside. Parents and voters have tried to get his attention in so many ways and he has shoved us all aside. He appears to only listen to Sec. of Education Duncan, Michelle Rhee, the Business Roundtable, DeVos, GLEP, and the Chamber of Commerce. How can parents and voters get him to listen and get out of Common Core? That’s where the challenge to Lt. Governor Calley becomes important.
Does Lt. Governor Brain Calley side with President Obama and Governor Snyder or the with RNC, parents, and voters?
In the last two years, despite the political battle raging over Common Core in Michigan and around the nation, Lt. Governor Calley has been silent. Only very recently has he claimed he opposes Common Core but there is no evidence to support that claim. Instead, we have found several videos where he advocates the philosophies of Common Core, “higher standards,” accountability, and the P-20 tracking from “pre-natal” into the job market, Here is an excerpt from a keynote speech at the Governor’s Education Summit in 2012 where Calley describes the P-20 philosophy of Gov. Snyder and calls it “critically important.”
“If we looked at education as one continuous system, the Governor calls it P-20, now for him it’s not preschool it is prenatal. He considers it even starting it that early. Pre-natal through potentially graduate education….and this is critically important to put the focus.”
Governor’s Education Summit 2012 – Brian Calley from MFEL on Vimeo.
Calley through his public statements and his silence appears to support Gov. Snyder’s P-20 Common Core policy. It is our opinion, that Governor Snyder and Lt. Governor Calley should be fighting to stop Common Core or fighting for their job. But penetrating Snyder’s machine is difficult; so Calley, a loyal supporter of the governor, is being challenged for his job. That’s the hallmark of our representative republic. People who see something they don’t like, find a way to affect change and fight for it. It is good for all when people we elect are held accountable for the job they are doing. Calley is accountable to his party and to us, the grassroots voters.
Politics or principles, that is the decision for the delegates at the convention.
Delegates can play politics and prop up the Snyder “yes-man” or they can vote on principle. Common Core is bad policy for the state, their children and the Republican Party. And if Calley wins, delegates may protect Snyder and his allies in the Michigan Republican leadership for a bit longer. But the next generation. educated under Common Core, will have a lot fewer men who are willing to challenge authority on the basis of principles and freedom. And what will you think when you are old and watch the party (and the country) you love crumble under the hands of progressive globalists educated under the Common Core P-20 education reforms?
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”Ronald Reagan