Alabamian Spearheads Effort Leading to RNC Resolution Rejecting Common Core

Alabama’s Republican national committeeman, Paul Reynolds, sponsored a resolution at this weekend’s RNC Spring meeting rejecting Common Core State Education Standards. Reynolds was also the presenter of the resolution which was unanimously passed out of the Resolutions Committee before being approved by the full National Committee.

The resolution’s passage was seen as a victory for the conservative and libertarian wings of the Party who have expressed concerns with Common Core Standards being yet another top-down approach to education.

The Common Core debate continues to simmer in Alabama with the action occasionally bubbling up to the surface. The day before the RNC voted to reject Common Core, the Alabama State Board of Education went in the opposite direction, approving their own resolution making Alabama the first state in the nation to adopt a new Common core-aligned standardized testing system. BOE members Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters were the only two “no” votes on the eight member board.

Some Republican legislators have expressed frustration throughout the Common Core debate because they feel like they’re having a hard time deciphering fact from fiction on both sides of the issue. “[State Superintendent of Education Tommy] Bice isn’t seen as an honest broker by a lot of people around here,” one Senator emailed Yellowhammer Sunday afternoon. Bice wants to keep Common Core Standards. “On the other hand,” the Senator continued, “the groups that want to repeal common core are being hurt by a small faction among them that has no credibility whatsoever.” The Senator cited the poor performance of a handful of repeal advocates who spoke during a public hearing on the issue held in the House chamber as an example.

Common Core State Standards got a national boost this weekend by an ExxonMobile commercial touting them during the Masters golf tournament. “Forty-five states have joined together to ensure consistent academic standards across America,” the commercial’s narrator says. “These internationally recognized benchmarks are unlocking a better way to prepare our children for college and their careers. Because when our kids do better, America does better.”

The commercial, which can be seen below, immediately drew the ire of many conservatives on social media and blogs.

It’s unclear right now if there is a path forward for Common Core repeal in Alabama, but we’ll be keeping a close watch on the issue as the 2013 legislative session goes into it’s final 10 days.

In the mean time, here’s the text of Paul Reynold’s RNC Resolution rejecting Common Core:

RESOLUTION CONCERNING COMMON CORE EDUCATION STANDARDS
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, (1.) and

WHEREAS, the NGA and the 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 piloted the CCSS, and

WHEREAS, even though Federal Law prohibits the federalizing of curriculum (2.), 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 ‘assessments’, 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, 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)(3.), 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 recognizes 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 rejects thecollection 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 be it finally

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) (3.); and therefore, the Republican National Committee rejects this CCSS plan which creates and fits the country with a nationwide straitjacket on academic freedom and achievement.