Teachers, school administrators, parents and concerned citizens in the nation have spoken out against the intrusive data mining of Common Core that violates several federal laws as well as the privacy provision protected by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. They have also said that Common Core violated the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution as it is mandating a federal curriculum. Moreover, the National Republican Party, the Chairmen’s Caucus of the Republican Party of Florida as well as many Republican Executive Committees of many counties in the Sunshine state have passed resolutions requesting an end to Common Core in Florida. Governor Scott needs the complete support of conservative Republicans as well as members of the Tea Party who are completely united in their desire to kill Common Core.
On October 20, 2014 my wife, mother-in-law, and I sent our absentee ballots in the mail supporting all the Republicans running for office. I am concerned that Governor Scott could lose and this will have terrible consequences for our state and the presidential election in 2016.
I am still puzzled why Governor Scott has not rejected Common Core when this could hurt him seriously in his reelection. Many conservatives in the Republican Party and Tea Party organizations are really angry at Governor Scott for his failure to reject ObamaCore and unfortunately some will not vote for him because of that issue. I think this is a mistake, for if Charlie Crist wins, he will keep Common Core forever and do whatever else the president asks him.
In order to win on November 4, 2014, Governor Scott needs the complete support of conservative Republicans as well as members of the Tea Party who are completely united in their desire to kill Common Core. The same goes for other Republican candidates for various offices who are still supporting Common Core. Governor Scott and other Republican candidates need to reject the wrong advice given to them by former Governor Jeb Bush and his insistence to keep Common Core in Florida and throughout the United States. How can any Republican politician or candidate for an elected position support ObamaCore when 76% of Republicans in the nation do not want it?
As of today, Florida’s gubernatorial race remains a dead heat with only 16 days to Election Day according to a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters. The poll conducted on October 15-17, 2014 indicated Republican Governor Rick Scott and former Republican Governor Charlie Crist, now a Democrat (after being a Republican and then an Independent) , each picking up 47% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, while 4% remain undecided.
There is a growing rebellion against Common Core throughout the United States involving parents, teachers, school administrators, and citizens which have led many states to reject what is also called ObamaCore and others to postpone it. A Gallup poll done on August 20, 2014 revealed that 59% of Americans oppose the use of Common Core State Standards, as it is officially called. Of the Republicans surveyed, 76% stated that they are opposed to it since ObamaCore violates the Fourth and the Tenth Amendments of the Constitution. In view of this fact, it does not make any sense for Governor Rick Scott or other Republican candidates for various offices to support Common Core when many conservatives are mad at them for not rejecting it.
Governor Scott is concerned that his support for Common Core (that he has renamed Florida Standards) may hurt him in his reelection campaign. He asked his top education adviser Kim MacDougal, who is on leave to work with the campaign, to meet with Common Core opponents to address their concerns. Governor Scott asked for a review of the Common Core standards as part of a major education plan that will increase per student spending to a record high of $7,176 and also appropriate more funds for classroom technology. However, this is not enough.
Governor Scott and other Republican candidates need to remember that Governor Mitt Romney lost the presidential election in 2012 because millions conservative Republicans and Independents did not vote because they felt that Governor Romney was too liberal. Additionally, only 50% of the 89 million evangelicals registered to vote and only 50% of those registered cast their ballot. It meant that only 25% of the evangelicals who detested President Obama voted in 2012. This, of course, was a terrible mistake since Barack Obama was reelected and he is the architect of the destruction of the United States. However, the same thing could happen in the November 4, 2014 election, if the members of Republican Party conservative base are so mad because of the support of Governor Scott and other Republican candidates for Common Core, and many of them could refuse to participate in the election.
I have heard many conservative Republicans and Tea Party members saying that they will not vote for Governor Scott or other Republican candidates if they still are supporting Common Core. In a close election, if the Republican base does not vote, it could very well give a victory for the Democrats. This is a very important issue for conservative Republicans and Tea Party members. I do not support this view as I already voted for Governor Scott and all other Republicans. Nevertheless, I feel that Governor Scott and other Republican candidates need to kill Common Core or at the very least postpone it for another year as the extreme liberal governors of New York and Massachusetts have already done.
Randy Osborne, a member of the Florida Eagle Forum and the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition (Our organization Bear Witness Central is part of this coalition), recently stated he and hundreds others are asking Governor Scott to abandon Common Core before the election. Osborne said “This issue could really hurt him, If he can’t get his base out, he can’t win.”
Recently, Governor Scott announced that he will name a panel to study Common Core and make recommendations to him regarding its implementation. Governor Scott does not need a panel to study the diabolical Common Core. He needs to do what Governor Jindal has done in Louisiana and what many other Republican governors have already done all over the United States: They have killed Common Core in their states.
There is a growing rebellion against Common Core across the nation
There is a growing national campaign against Common Core led by conservatives and some progressives. They are many Republicans as well as Democrats who are opposed to the federal unconstitutional takeover of education.
Opponents of Common Core are also concerned about the costs involved in the implementation of these standards and curricula. Many believe that Common Core is a cash cow for the corporations who plan to implement new testing, new curriculum, new professional development, new textbooks, collection of data, and so forth, in order to adhere to Obama’s education policy.
Additionally, there is great concern as to the appropriateness of some of the books that are being included in the recommended list of Common Core. One such book is, The Bluest Eye, by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, which is included in the 11th grade reading list. This novel is an account of a black girl growing up in Ohio and the molestation, rape and incest she endures. Conservatives feel that this book has pornography and therefore, should not be used in secondary schools.
The opponents of Common Core feel strongly that they will defeat ObamaCore. They do not want President Barack Obama to fundamentally transform the schools to match his socialist vision of America.
One day Governor Jindal was helping one of his children with the math homework using a textbook that incorporated the Common Core mathematics standards. He could not believe how horrible the math problems were in the textbook. The very next day he issued an executive order withdrawing his state of Louisiana from Common Core. Later he filed a lawsuit against Common Core for violating the Constitution.
The Obama administration used $4.35 billion from the Stimulus Package to blackmail, pressure or motivate the states to adopt the terrible Common Core State Standards. From the very beginning five states rejected Common Core. They were Texas, Virginia, Alaska, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Later on seven states, such as Louisiana, rejected ObamaCore. The other six states that withdrew from Common Core were Indiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Maine. Four other states are considering withdrawing from ObamaCore. They are Mississippi, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Utah. Even the very liberal states of New York and Massachusetts have postponed the implementation of this monstrosity pushed hard by the Obama administration.
Jindal may run for president in 2016, and his lawsuit is popular with conservative and Tea Party activists as well as the vast majority of Republicans. Of all the potential Republican presidential candidates, only former Florida Governor Jeb Bush continues to support ObamaCore. He has already lost the support of the conservative base of the Republican Party not only in Florida but across the nation. This may hurt his chances to obtain the Republican presidential nomination for president in 2016. The National Republican Party passed a resolution condemning the Common Core State Standards.
I have spoken numerous times in conferences in various cities of Florida, and over the radio in Miami and Orlando, and on television explaining to the public how Common Core violates the Fourth and the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution and many federal laws. The United States Constitution and many federal laws prohibit the federal government to implant a curriculum on states.
I have written many articles against Common Core and my organization, Bear Witness Central, is part of a coalition of over 50 organizations which are actively seeking to eliminate Common Core from the Sunshine State. Additionally, I have a 29-page chapter entitled “Obama’s Destructive Common Core Curriculum and Standards” in my recent book, America in Decline (2014). Bear Witness Central Orlando Broward County Directors have written articles and spoken on the radio against Common Core.
As Miami-Dade County Bear Witness Central Director, I will continue to work tirelessly on persuading Governor Scott and the members of Florida Legislature to abandon Common Core in Florida. Additionally, Bear Witness Central is working to persuade the bishops of Florida to reject Common Core in the Catholic schools of the their dioceses.
President Barack Obama’s national agenda for radically restructuring education in the nation has grown increasingly unpopular all over the country. Just like Governor Jindal, Republican governors have responded by rejecting the implementation of Common Core in their states as it violates not only the Constitution of the United States but also the Constitution of their states as well.
Governor Jindal stated the following: “The proponents of Common Core will tell you that it’s simply about one test and about standards, but that’s a ruse. Common Core is about controlling curriculum. Educators know that what’s tested is what’s taught. Make no mistake — Common Core tests will drive curriculum. Common Core supporters should own up to this fact and finally admit they want to control curriculum. These are big government elitists who believe they know better than parents and local school boards.”
Governor Jindal accurately realized the evil intent of the Obama administration. He said that “What started out as an innovative idea to create a set of baseline standards that could be ‘voluntarily’ used by the states has turned into a scheme by the federal government to nationalize curriculum.”
The Resolution of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party Executive Committee Expressing Opposition to Common Core State Standards for Florida Schools
Together with Pam Evans, I spoke against Common Core State Standards during a meeting of the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee on September 17, 2013. Similarly to the National Republican Party, the Miami-Dade Republican Party passed a resolution rejecting Common Core on that date. Interesting, Constitutional Day is celebrated by the nation on September 17. Thus, the Republican Party of Miami-Dade, on the day that the nation celebrates the blessings of our Constitutional Republic passed a resolution defending the Constitution of the United States. The Resolution stated the following:
WHEREAS, on April 11, 2013, the Republican National Committee (RNC), in a special meeting in Los Angeles, California, released their “Resolution Concerning Common Core Education Standards” and the members of this committee herein express to the people of Florida their full and unequivocal support for the position taken by the RNC, and
WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of academic standards, promoted and supported by two private membership organizations, the National Governors’ Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as a method for conforming American students to a uniform (“one size fits all”) achievement goals to make them more competitive in a global marketplace, and
WHEREAS, the NGA and CCSSO, received tens of millions of dollars from private third parties to advocate for and develop the CCSS strategy, subsequently created the CCSS through a process that was not subject to any freedom of information acts or other sunshine laws, and never was piloted the CCSS, and
WHEREAS, even though Federal Law prohibits the federalizing of curriculum, the Obama administration accepted the CCSS plan and used 2009 Stimulus Bill money to reward the states that were most committed to the President’s CCSS agenda; but, they failed to give states, their legislatures and their citizens time to evaluate the CCSS before having to commit to them, and
WHEREAS, the NGA and CCSSO in concert with the same corporations developing the CCSS assessments have created new textbooks, digital media and other teaching materials aligned to the standards which must be purchased and adopted by local school districts in order that students may effectively compete on CCSS assessment, and
WHEREAS, the CCSS program includes federally funded testing and the collection and sharing of massive amounts of personal student and teacher data, and
WHEREAS, the CCSS effectively removes educational choice and competition since all schools and all districts must use Common Core assessments based on the Common Core Standards to allow all students to advance in the school system and to advance to higher education pursuits; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee and the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee, as stated in the 2012 Republican Party Platform, “do not believe in one size fits all approach to education and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the State and the local level,” (p 35), which is best based on a free market approach to education for students to achieve individual excellence; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee and the Miami Dade County Republican Executive Committee recognize the CCSS for what it is, an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children so they will conform to a preconceived “normal”, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee and the Miami-Dade County Republican Executive Committee reject the collection of personal student data for any non-educational purpose without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student’s parent and that it rejects the sharing of such personal data, without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student’s parent, with any person or entity other than schools or education agencies within the states, and finally,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the 2012 Republican Party Platform specifically states the need to repeal the numerous federal regulations which interfere with State and local control of public schools, (p 36); and therefore, the Republican National Committee and the Miami-Dade County Republican Executive Committee rejects this CCSS plan which creates and fits the country with a nationwide undo restriction of academic freedom and achievement.
Approved and adopted this September 17, 2013, at a meeting of the members in Miami-Dade, Florida.
I, the undersigned Chairman representing the entire membership, hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Miami-Dade County Republican Executive Committee.
Similar resolutions against Common Core are being approved by the Republican Party Executive Committees of different counties in Florida. There is growing opposition throughout the nation to the Obama administration’s federal takeover of education in most of the states in violation of our Constitution.
The governor of Maine signed an executive order against Common Core
Trisha Marczak wrote an article entitled “Conservatives Fear Brainwashing of Children by Common Core Learning Standards” which was published by Mint Press News on September 12, 2013. The reporter explained that the conservative movement against the federal Common Core learning standards received a boost when the governor of Maine, Paul LePage, signed an executive order against the implementation of the Common Core standards. As indicated earlier there are now seven states that initially adopted ObamaCore and have now rejected it and many others that are going to reject it soon.
Governor LePage stated in his executive order the following: “The federal government has no constitutional authority to set learning standards in Maine or any other state, nor determine how children in the State of Maine or any other state will be educated. The Maine Constitution specifically grants to local governments responsibility for the support and maintenance of public schools. It is therefore, the right of local school units, not the state, to develop and or adopt curricula and instructional approaches consistent with the state learning standards.”
Governor LePage was also concerned with the data mining component of Common Core. He included the following in his executive order: “That the collection of student data by school districts and the state Department of Education must be done in a manner consistent with state and federal laws intended to protect student privacy. No personally identifiable data on students and/or their families’ religion, political party affiliation, psychometric data, biometric information, and/or voting history shall be collected, tracked, housed or shared with the federal government, nor provided to private vendors for the purpose of marketing or business development.”
Teachers, school administrators, parents and concerned citizens in the state of Maine, as well as in the nation, have spoken out against the intrusive data mining of Common Core that violates several federal laws as well as the privacy provision protected by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
RESOLUTION OF THE CHAIRMEN’S CAUCUS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF FLORIDA. EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO COMMON CORE STANDARDS AND CURRICULA FOR FLORIDA SCHOOLS
A caucus of Republican Party Executive Committee Chairmen and State Committee men and women voted in January 2014 to oppose the Common Core indicating a growing anger among the party’s grass-roots members over the federal overreach. The resolution, which was approved by a caucus of state chairman and committeemen and committeewomen before the annual party meeting.
Bill Korach wrote an article on The Report Card on January 13, 2014. He explained that Mary Ann Russell, the state committeewoman from St. Lucie County, said Republican activists who worked to elect Scott in 2010 were opposed to the standards. Russell stated the following: “They are dead-set against this massive federal government overtake of our education system. And where we’re heading is to a very socialist country.” Eric Miller, the committeeman from Martin County, said “Folks, once they’ve got the kids, and they’ve got their minds, you might as well sit down; it’s over from there.”
The resolution stated the following:
WHEREAS, on April 11, 2013, the Republican National Committee (RNC), in a special meeting in Los Angeles, California, released their “RESOLUTION CONCERNING COMMON CORE EDUCATION STANDARDS” AND THE MEMBERS OF THIS Committee herein express to the people of Florida their full and unequivocal support for the positions taken by the RNC, and
WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of academic standards, promoted and supported by two private membership organizations, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as a method for conforming American students to uniform (“one size fits all”) achievement goals to make them more competitive in a global marketplace, and
WHEREAS, the NGA and CCSSO, received tens of millions of dollars from private third parties to advocate for and developed the CCSS strategy, subsequently created the CCSS through a process that was not subject to any freedom of information acts or other sunshine laws, and never piloted the CCSS, and
WHEREAS, even though Federal Law prohibits the federalizing of curriculum, the Obama Administration accepted the CCSS plan and used 2009 Stimulus Bill money to reward the states that were most committed to the president’s CCSS agenda; but, they failed to give states, their legislatures and their citizens time to evaluate the CCSS before having to commit to them, and
WHEREAS, the NGA and CCSSO in concert with the same corporations developing the CCSS ‘assessments’ have created new textbooks, digital media and other teaching materials aligned to the standards which must be purchased and adopted by local school districts in order that students may effectively compete on CCSS ‘assessment’, and
WHEREAS, the CCSS program includes federally funded testing and the collection and sharing of massive amounts of personal student and teacher data, and
WHEREAS, the CCSS effectively removes educational choice and competition since all schools and all districts must use Common Core ‘assessments’ based on the Common Core standards to allow all students to advance in the school system and to advance to higher education pursuits; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee and the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee, as stated in the 2012 Republican Party Platform, “do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the State and local level,” (p35), which is best based on a free market approach to education for students to achieve individual excellence; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Florida’s Chairman’s Caucus recognize the CCSS for what it is an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children so they will conform to a preconceived “normal,” and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee and the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Florida’s Chairman’s Caucus reject the collection of personal student data for any non-educational purpose without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student’s parent and that it rejects the sharing of such personal data, without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student’s parent, with any person or entity other than schools or education agencies within the state, and finally,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the 2012 Republican Party Platform specifically states the need to repeal the numerous federal regulations which interfere with State and local control of public schools. (p36); and therefore, the Republican National Committee and the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Florida’s Chairman’s Caucus reject this CCSS plan which creates and fits the country with a nationwide straitjacket on academic freedom and achievement.
Approved and adopted this 10th day of January 2014, at the RPOF Chairman’s Caucus in Orlando, Fl.
I, the undersigned Chairman of the RPOF Chairmen’s Caucus representing its membership, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was adopted by the Republican Party of Florida’s Chairman’s Caucus.
Conclusion
How can any Republican politician or candidate for an elected position support ObamaCore when 76% of Republicans in the nation do not want it? It never made any sense to support the ObamaCore, but to still keep Common Core in Florida when many states that adopted it are now rejecting it, makes no sense at all. Even the extreme liberal governor of New York has postponed Common Core indefinitely!
Teachers, school administrators, parents and concerned citizens in the nation have spoken out against the intrusive data mining of Common Core that violates several federal laws as well as the privacy provision protected by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. They have also said that Common Core violated the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution as it is mandating a federal curriculum.
Moreover, the National Republican Party, the Chairmen’s Caucus of the Republican Party of Florida as well as many Republican Executive Committees of many counties in the Sunshine state have passed resolutions requesting an end to Common Core in Florida. Lastly, to alienate conservatives Republicans and Tea Party conservatives activists, who hate Common Core and many may not vote for Governor Scott or any other Republican candidates who still support ObamaCore in the coming election, is sheer madness.
Governor Scott please listen to me while you still have time. Reject Common Core now!
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