WHEREAS not being enumerated in Article I, Section B of the U.S. Constitution, education has historically been left to each State per the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution;
WHEREAS the copyrighted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of controversial academic standards that were created for the whole nation by unaccountable private interests without research-based evidence of validity or developmental appropriateness; and
WHEREAS these unaccountable private interests, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), have received millions of dollars in funding from the Gates Foundation to create the CCSS; and
WHEREAS many top officials now at the US Department of Education used to work for the Gates Foundation; and
WHEREAS the US Department of Education improperly blackmailed the Washington State legislature into adopting the Common Core State Standards as a condition of receiving federal Race to the Top (RTTT) funds; and
WHEREAS as a result of Washington State Senate Bill 6669, which passed the State legislature on March 11, 2010, the Office of the Superintendent of Instruction (OSPI) adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on July 20, 2011; and
WHEREAS this adoption effectively transfers control over public school assessment from locally elected school boards in the State of Washington to the federal government and to the unaccountable private interests that control the CCSS; and
WHEREAS the Washington State Constitution also called for public education to be controlled by the State of Washington through our elected State legislature, our elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction and our elected local school boards;
WHEREAS implementation of CCSS will cost local school districts hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for new tests, new books and teacher training at a time when Washington is already insufficiently funding K12 education; and
WHEREAS implementation of CCSS assessments also result in private student data being transmitted to and stored by private third party for profit corporations: and
WHEREAS for this reasons, many States have already withdrawn from CCSS; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we call upon the Washington State legislature and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to withdraw from the CCSS. Resolution to Keep Control of Education at the State and School District Levels adopted by the following Legislative District on the following date:
A longer version of this resolution was approved by the 36th LD Democrats on 3/10/2014. For more information, contact David Spring M. Ed. springforschools@aol.com
