Judge strikes down federally funded Common Core testing consortium: ‘Illegal interstate compact’
Victor Skinner
February 26, 2015
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri judge this week ruled that a testing consortium designed to administer Common Core exams is an “illegal interstate compact not authorized by the U.S. Congress.”
Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green ruled Tuesday in favor of Gretchen Logue and Anne Gassel, editors of the Missouri Education Watchdog site, who argued that the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced multi-state testing consortium is “an unconstitutional interstate compact that was not approved by Congress, in violation of the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 10,” Breitbart.com reports.
Gassel wrote on the Missouri Education Watchdog site that “the suit also alleged that Governor (Jay) Nixon and (Education) Commissioner (Chris) Nicastro’s course of conduct in committing Missouri to Common Core was in violation of numerous federal and state statutes.”
From the Huffington Puffington Post a couple of months ago:
Several years ago, education giant Pearson must have had some high hopes for the profits it would rake in with the spring 2015 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments related to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
That was before the reality of slenderized, 2015 PARCC customer base came to be.
Indeed, the PARCC trim-down did not happen quickly- but it has happened- and it might not even be finished.
PARCC exited the 2011 starting gate with 24 states plus DC.
By the close of 2014, PARCC states actually and legitimately contracted with Pearson for its PARCC assessments is less than half the initial 2011 count.
Anonymous commenting provides seemingly the last, best option for getting timely information, and trenchant opinion out to the public without risk of retribution. Consider what happened to this teacher when she made the mistake of criticising Common Core on Facebook:
School Prepares to Terminate Teacher for Facebook Post Opposing Common Core Curriculum
joe miller ^ | february 27, 2015
Posted on 2/27/2015 11:56:56 PM by lowbridge
Debora Vailes re-posted on her personal Facebook page a photograph of a little girl crying because of the shortcomings of Common Core. Later that day, her school principal, Dr. Dana Nolan, after discovering the post, gave Deborah Vailes her first written reprimand and ordered her to refrain from expressing any opinion about public education on social media and to remove her anti-Common Core post from the social media site – ASAP. (The school district refers to written reprimands as a “documented conferences.”) Dr. Nolan further informed Deborah that she could not to discuss her opinion in public – on any social media or any public forum.
Two days later, Dr. Nolan held a mandatory faculty meeting of the Pineville Junior high school. She informed the faculty at the meeting that Deborah Vailes was reprimanded due to posting a negative opinion about Common Core on Facebook. Dr. Nolan warned the faculty not to share their personal opinions or speak-out in any way. After hearing about the Principal’s gag order, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, issued an executive order that teachers were to be afforded the same constitutional guarantees afforded to all citizens. However, his executive order did not deter the Defendant, Dr. Nolan, from continuing her vendetta against Deborah Vailes.
Before Vailes posted her Facebook criticism of Common Core, she had a stellar personnel record; she had never received a reprimand. Since her public criticism, she has received three additional written reprimands. School administrators are now constantly visiting her class, when before her criticism of Common Core, such visits were rare. Dr. Nolan has stripped Debbie Vailes of her responsibilities, and placed her in a job category which, according to Vailes’ colleagues, will be eliminated at the end of the school year resulting in her termination.
(Excerpt) Read more at joemiller.us …
Amazing in this day and age you cannot have an opinion. One stupid administrator!
Don’t you mean Children of the Corn?
Why are school districts so adamant about subjecting our children to this? The most important reason appears to be the intimate connection between federal funding to support state staffing positions for education. For example, in Alaska 43% of the jobs in the department of education are federally funded. An Alaskan legislator also pointed out that two-thirds of their educational administrative costs are federally funded. Concern over this intimate connection creates a culture of silence where teachers and administrators fear losing their jobs. Another reason is school administrators believe they must have 95% participation on the standardized test in order to receive funding for their schools. Local districts also comply with the tests because they have been both pressured by the federal government and conditioned to obey federal mandates (however unconstitutional).
The SBAC and PARCC tests and Common Core are acts of educational tyranny never agreed to, never voted on by parents or legislatures, and never discussed or debated. This system of so-called educational reform is radical, egalitarian, socialist and counterproductive. Should we accept this conversion to nationalized education with unflinching obedience? It is up to us. Will we protect our children from planned failure based on poorly designed schemes? Or will we refuse this poorly disguised federal tyranny? I will refuse. A growing number of parents are joining me. Will you?
Mary Anne Marcella is a parent and public school teacher who wants the best for her children and students. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of others in the education field.
Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/common_core_state_tests_i_refuse.html#ixzz3TFixLVrj