Urgent: Please Email/Call AZ House Members: Vote Yes to HB2190 AND HB2246

The following was compiled by a team of dedicated fighters who are committed to eradicating Common Core and restoring local control in Education.     

HB 2190 and HB 2246 “Restoring local control in Education by Repealing/Replacing Common Core” and “Parental Right to opt out of Assessments” recently passed out of the House Education Committee.  However, that was only the first of many more steps to change our education policy.

Thank you House Education Committee members Rep. Paul Boyer PBoyer@azleg.gov, Rep. Doug Coleman DColeman@azleg.gov, Rep. Jay Lawrence JLawrence@azleg.gov, Rep. Jill Norgaard JNorgaard@azleg.gov, and Rep. Bob Thorpe BThorpe@azleg.gov. 

Next, the House votes and may do so as early as Monday (Feb. 23), Tuesday, or Wednesday.  This won’t be a slam dunk! 

Now please give House Legislators your thoughts and Political Courage to vote YES to restore local and parental control in education as the Constitution spells out.  Common Core is not a partisan issue.  Nationally, both sides of the aisle have serious concerns about CC.  Big Business and Big Government want to stay in control.

Don’t know what to say or to whom to say it?  Read on.   

There are 60 members of the AZ House.  Contact info is below.  ~Take a breath~

1.  Find your 2 Representatives and send an email or call them: See House Member Roster 
(If you don’t know who they are…email me at anitalchristy@gmail.com, and I will help you!)

2.  If you can and have the energy… An individual email to each member is best.

3.  Tell them which District you live in…ie LD 6, LD11, LD12, etc, or at least mention your city name.

 4.  In your phone call or email courteously ASK for a YES vote on HB 2190 and HB 2246.

What should go in your email subject line?  Examples:  Vote Yes on HB 2190 and HB 2246, Please support HB 2190 and 2246, No more Common Core… you get the idea. 

If you are unable to send 60 individual emails, read on!

Copy and paste this whole list below into your Bcc. (blind carbon copy) to send one email to all House Members.   If you have no idea how to do this..just call them instead.  See House Member Roster. 

jackerley@azleg.gov, jallen@azleg.gov, lalston@azleg.gov, randrade@azleg.gov, bbarton@azleg.gov, jbenally@azleg.gov, rbolding@azleg.gov, sborrelli@azleg.gov, rbowers@azleg.gov, pboyer@azleg.gov, kbrophymcgee@azleg.gov, ncampbell@azleg.gov, mcardenas@azleg.gov, hcarter@azleg.gov, kenclark@azleg.gov, rcobb@azleg.gov, dcoleman@azleg.gov, despinoza@azleg.gov, kfann@azleg.gov, efarnsworth@azleg.gov, cfernandez@azleg.gov, mfinchem@azleg.gov, rfriese@azleg.gov, rgabaldon@azleg.gov, sgonzales@azleg.gov, dgowan@azleg.gov, rgray@azleg.gov, ahale@azleg.gov, akern@azleg.gov, jlarkin@azleg.gov, jlawrence@azleg.gov, vleach@azleg.gov, dlivingston@azleg.gov, plovas@azleg.gov, smach@azleg.gov, ddavis@azleg.gov, jmendez@azleg.gov, jmesnard@azleg.gov, emeyer@azleg.gov, dmitchell@azleg.gov, smontenegro@azleg.gov, jnorgaard@azleg.gov, jolson@azleg.gov, lotondo@azleg.gov, wpetersen@azleg.gov, fpratt@azleg.gov, rrios@azleg.gov, trivero@azleg.gov, brobson@azleg.gov, msaldate@azleg.gov, asherwood@azleg.gov, tshope@azleg.gov, vsteele@azleg.gov, dstevens@azleg.gov, bthorpe@azleg.gov, ktownsend@azleg.gov, mugenti@azleg.gov, cvelasquez@azleg.gov, jweninger@azleg.gov, bwheeler@azleg.gov

See below for issues parents/teachers/administrators/students/experts say are wrong with Common Core 

Should you mention every issue?   No.   Please look through the list, then pick a few that matter to YOU!  Many more facts can be found at the end of this post. 

Dr. Sandra Stotsky’s Common Core Fact Sheet.  Sandra Stotsky was part of the CC Validation Committee and is a direct source as she was part of the CC process and saw its flaws.

 Ten Reasons to Reject Common Core

Common Core Standards Myths Versus Facts

Many of the bullet points below can be sourced in many places. 

* Not Constitutional 

* Adopted sight unseen in AZ  (We signed up for Race to the Top Grant money in Jan 2010 and CC standards finalized in June 2010)

* Not internationally benchmarked.  CC never tried anywhere in the world. 

* Written by people mostly associated with profitable testing companies-College Board(SAT), ACT, Achieve, Inc.–no child development experts and a handful of professors but no k-12 teachers for standards that are for k-12 students.  Common Core State Standards Development Work Group and Feedback Group Announced.

* 5 experts wouldn’t sign off on standards due to poor quality.  Sandra Stotsky, James Milgram, and Ze’ev Wurman testify monthly all over the US.  See Common Core State Standards Initiative Validation Committee Announced

*Process to develop and accept CC was undemocratic.

*No cost analysis was done prior to accepting CC as required by AZ statutes.  The JLBC (Joint Legislative Budget Committee) didn’t receive a fiscal impact statement from the State Board Education until Jan. 2013.  See Did the Arizona State Board of Education Ignore Arizona Law? 

*CC is expensive.  Gov. Jerry Brown Hit with a Massive $1 Billion Common Core Bill.  

*States were coerced with Federal Dollars to accept CC during the Great Recession  $4.35 Billion Race to the Top funds were offered. 

*AZ applied for $250 million Race to the Top grant funds and got $25 million to implement CC for the whole state of approximately1 million school kids

*One size fits all approach to teaching/testing children.

*Many standards for young children are not developmentally appropriate leading to frustration.  See Dr. Megan Koschnick, Child Psychologist, Explains why Common Core Standards are Developmentally Inappropriate for K-3.  

*A shift in focus to read less fiction in favor of non-fiction.   100 years of research says good writers are made by reading good fictional works.

* Math—emphasis on prescriptive processes to solve even basic math problems.  The Unintended Consequences of TERC.   Arkansas Mother Obliterates Common Core Math in 4 Minutes.  

*Pushes down previous standards into lower grades in the name of “rigor” masking what is known about how kids’ brains develop and grow.  Why I Once Liked Common Core but Changed my Mind: One Principal’s View and Testimony to the NY State Assembly regarding Common Core Testing Madness:  Mary Calamia LCSW

*CC creates a rigid set of performance expectations that results in tightly controlled timelines/curriculum for fear of not passing assessments.   Is the Use of Beyond Textbooks Violating Arizona Law?  You be the Judge.  

*Loss of local control in assessment creation.  Assessments designed by 2 national testing consortia also funded heavily by Federal grants and the Gates Foundation. See Incompetent Pearson Wins PARCC Contract: Big Surprise.  See also Rupert Murdoch Wins Contract to Develop Common Core Tests:  Smarter Balanced.  

*Assessments drive curriculum choices.  Failing schools lead to State/Federal Improvement plans which include things like firing principals, teachers, and closing schools.

*CC supporters say standards are different than curriculum.  Not when virtually all textbooks printed after 2010 are CC aligned. So it’s like Henry Ford’s original model T…you can have any color so long as you select black.

*CC does not equal school choice.  Public & Charter schools must follow CC, and some Catholic schools have CC thanks to new books.

*Bill Gates is the biggest corporate funder and profiteer (donating $2-4 billion of his money).  See Why Bill Gates Defends the Common CoreSo, if you wonder why so many “reputable” organizations and groups support Common Core, look at the list of those who have received his largesse.  A few examples:  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the CCSO, which backs the Teacher of the Year program, various teacher organizations such as “Teacher advocates for Common Core-Teacher Voices Convening-TVC”,     

*Bill Gates advised that the states need to set up State Longitudinal Data Bases to track students and teachers.  He also said “When the tests are aligned to the common standards, the curriculum will line up as well—and that will unleash powerful market forces in the service of better teaching.  For the first time, there will be a large base of customers eager to buy products that can help every kid learn and every teacher get better… The stimulus package contains funding for longitudinal data systems; I hope you will use this funding to support systems that track student performance from early childhood education through high school and college and into the workplace. Student performance should be linked to the teacher and the curriculum and the instructional tools.”  Bill Gates: National Conference of State Legislatures.  

*Bill Gates’ kids, Pres. Obama’s kids, Arne Duncan’s (Secretary of Ed) kids go to elite schools without CC.  If CC is so great…why don’t they choose that for THEIR own kids? 

*Non partisan issue Letter from 500 principals in NY with their experience with CC.  They rolled out CC faster than AZ did and found the problems before AZ did.

*Assessments have artificially controlled “cut scores” or passing rates and kids are failing by design.

*Teachers are quitting over CC or counting down days to retire.  Common Core is Costing us our Best Teachers.  Teacher Known for Winning Top Teacher Contest Resignation.  Teacher Publicly Quits in Defiance of Common Core“This is not developmentally appropriate for my students, and I find it cruel and harmful to suggest that it is. I do not believe in knowlingly setting my students up for failure,” Rickert said. “I cannot remain silent for one more day.

*Teachers who speak against CC face retribution.  This op-ed by a Tucson teacher put him in trouble with the Arizona Dept. of Ed.  For Many Reasons, it’s Time to Get Rid of Common Core.    They called him names!  Here’s what they said about him:  Arizona Education Officials Intimidated Anti-Common Core Teacher.  Teacher Tearfully Describes Bullying and Intimidation she Suffered for Opposing Common Core

*Data collection on students is highly profitable and intrusive.  Federal privacy laws offer little protection.  See EPIC versus the U.S. Dept. of Education .  The White House Hosts an Education “Datapalooza”:  Meet Knewton.  Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems:  Fact Sheet.  Data Mining the Minds of Arizona’s Children

Ask yourself…who is education for and who gets to decide?

More Sources:

Local Control of Education is Gone!

The Obama 2015 budget earmarks millions for Common Core data suctioning and social justice programs. 

A Candid Look at Common Core.

Did you know that only one person from Arizona helped to write the Common Core State Standards:  Dr. William McCallum.  Common Core State Standards Development Work Group and Feedback Group Announced.  There were 158 Arizonans who helped write Arizona’s previous standards.  Arizona’s previous reading standards were developed by 56 Arizonans, representing 49 Arizona cities.  See Arizona Reading Standards 2003 Acknowledgment Page.  Arizona’s previous writing standards were developed by 32 Arizonans, representing 32 Arizona school districts and organizations.  See Arizona Writing Standards 2004 Acknowledgment Page.  Arizona’s Math standards were developed by 70 Arizonans representing 49 Arizona school districts and organizations.  Ironically, one of the developers of Arizona’s 2008 Math standards was Dr. William McCallum.   See Arizona’s Math Standards 2008