Why Republicans Should Defeat National Standards for State Schools
By Elois Zeanah
President, Alabama Federation of Republican Women
INTRODUCTION
The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s plan to
reform the education system to centralize decisions in Washington, D.C. This removes authority from parents,
teachers and boards of education. A federal board of unelected bureaucrats will decide and control what children
learn. This, of course, is the same model used by ObamaCare, where a federal panel of unelected bureaucrats will
decide what medical procedures patients can receive and limit decisions doctors can make.
As with socialized medicine, nationalized education has been the goal of Leftists since the 1960’s. Leftists have
managed to take over our colleges and universities, and now they want to take over K-12 classrooms. To
paraphrase one professor, Leftists resurrect this thing from the grave about every decade. Americans don’t want
it, however, and it gets buried every time. This time is different, however.
Proponents of federalized education learned from past failures and this time avoided a public debate by using
front organizations to hide behind and, through stealth, breathe new life into “this thing from the grave” by getting
states to approve it. As a consequence, the majority of parents, legislators, teachers and other voters have no idea
of what Common Core Standards are.
Unless there is a concerted national grassroots organization to expose the deficiencies of Common Core Standards
(CCS); how the Obama administration is coercing state school boards to adopt national standards; the multimillion-dollar cost to implement CCS; and how standards, curriculum, tests, teaching methods, textbooks, etc. will
be institutionalized, making it virtually impossible to undo this stealth revolution in American education, President
Obama will have nationalized one more sector of our economy before the public knows what’s happening.
Just as ObamaCare was so bad it took bribes to get even members of the President’s own party to vote for it,
President has resorted to coercion and federal funding to get state school boards to approve it. President Obama
used stealth from the beginning to end-run the public process and Congress to force through his quiet education
revolution before Congress, State Legislators, and the general public had a clue that State Boards of Education
were being manipulated and ceding States Rights under the Tenth Amendment. In the process, President Obama
has violated Federal Laws as well as the Constitution’s Separation of Powers and checks and balances.
The American public doesn’t want centralized planning of education by the federal government, just as they don’t
want nationalized health care. They’ve rejected it time and time again. Voters will bury “this thing from the
grave” once again and reject this power grab by the president and stop yet one more expansion of the federal
government. But first they must know about it. What better time than during a presidential campaign?
SYNOPSIS
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Common Core Standards is a federal takeover of education. It is part of President Obama’s plan to
fundamentally change and nationalize America’s education system, just as he wants to nationalize the
health care and energy sectors of our economy to expand government control over our lives. CCS is a
one-size-fits-all curriculum which forces states to teach what other states teach regardless of different
values and different political philosophies among states. Federalized education has long been the “holy
grail” of Leftists since the 1960s to use classrooms to indoctrinate innocent, young children to control
what our children think.
Americans have repeatedly rejected nationalized standards. This is why supporters of CCS used front
organizations to hide behind to avoid a national debate. As a result, the majority of voters remain unaware of
what CCS is and how it will impact their children and the values they teach at home and at church.
President Obama is cajoling states to “voluntarily” cede education sovereignty by:
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Offering waivers to No Child Left Behind in return for adopting Common Core Standards.
Making Common Core Standards as part of the re-authorization of NCLB.
Using Race to the Top funds to entice states to adopt Common Core Standards.
Threatening to withhold educational funds such as Title I if states refuse to adopt CCS.
What do Education Experts say about CCS?
Education Experts disprove claims that CCS are higher standards than states have now, and that they better
prepare students for the workforce and for college. The documentation of how these claims are myths is available
from AFRW.
What can State Federations do to help defeat CCS?
To fight federal takeover of education, we must inform our members and the general public about CCS, then lobby
State School Boards to rescind their adoption of CCS. At least one state has already withdrawn. AFRW wants
Alabama to withdraw and is encouraging members to recruit and back candidates who will challenge school board
members who refuse to rescind CCS. We realize that when School Board members betray our trust and their
campaign promises, there is only one option left – vote them out of office!
If NFRW members can raise awareness that CCS is the cornerstone of Obama’s education reform and that the
consequence is to teach our children cookie-cutter curriculum and that federal bureaucrats decide what our
children learn, and that the Obama administration is violating Federal Laws and diminishing the Separation of
Powers authority in the Constitution by this federal takeover of education, we can hold School Board members
accountable and save our children, our schools, our education sovereignty; and in the long term, our nation. For
more information, contact Elois Zeanah at eloisz@hotmail.com.
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In all three cases, President Obama is making an end-run around Congress and, by doing so, is violating
the Constitution. Consider the following:
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Initiatives to nationalize healthcare, education and energy are all about expanding the
powers of the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch. Expanded powers
of the presidency diminishes the Separation of Powers and its checks and balances, as
required by the U.S. Constitution.
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The individual mandate forces individuals to buy something. If this is upheld by the Supreme
Court, then government will unlimited powers to force individuals to buy certain products.
This helps cripple free market capitalism and chips away at individual freedoms to choose.
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Like nationalized healthcare, cap and trade is all about control. It regulates carbon
emissions, which impacts almost every activity and product we use every day. Remember
President Obama’s statement that his energy goals will mandate that “We can’t drive our
SUVs, eat as much as we want, and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times …. That’s not
going to happen.” In other words, like the individual mandate of ObamaCare, the
government will get to decide what we buy and will take away choices of how we live.
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As with healthcare and energy above, Obama’s initiative to nationalize education will
centralize decisions within the executive branch.
CONCLUSION:
It’s up to US to protect our children!