Lobbying Group - National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) - Says HB3399 Unconstitutional?

As hysteria about one state in the union breaking away from the hold of the federal government increases to fevered pitch, NASBE weighs in by sending Governor Fallin a letter detailing how the law (HB3399) is unconstitutional.  Seriously, this is rich.

Here in Oklahoma, I know at least two school board members (one a school board President) that do NOT want Common Core.  Travis Sallee, the President of the Guthrie School Board made news recently with the Board's very public resolution AGAINST Common Core.  Thompson Spier an Oklahoma school board member, recently made post history for views on our Facebook (over 7000) page with a heartfelt letter he penned about his school board's declining role in the education of his community's children in view of the ever-increasing mandates caused by dictates from Washington, D.C.  He is also not a Common Core fan.

In fact, several school board members have told me that they have NEVER been surveyed as to their opinion about Common Core before the state school board association (OSSBA) and NASBE decided to lobby FOR Common Core and against HB3399.  So why is it that Governor Fallin should listen to an organization that gets its lobbying power from the tens of thousands of dollars it collects in dues, over the cries of parents with anguished kids at their kitchen table?

To finish off this post, here is the comment I made to the article just because I simply had to.

Wow. Not surprising however, with all the backing NASBE has gotten from Bill Gates to shove Common Core down the throats of school board members whether they liked it or not. 

Amount: $450,675; to convene regional meetings of policymakers and leaders to increase member knowledge around the common core standards 

Amount: $1,077,960 ;to build the capacity of State Boards of Education to better position them to achieve full implementation of the Common Core standards 

Amount: $800,000; Purpose: to support a development plan for the organization and its efforts to provide training and information to implement Common Core State Standards 

Hmmm...isn't that conflict of interest? NASBE complaining about Oklahoma trying to stop Common Core when it's been paid to implement it?

Additionally, NASBE has no standing to do anything in Oklahoma other than draw attention to their complaint - and by the way, why do they care what Oklahoma does anyway?  Consequently, there is zero reason for Oklahoma to kowtow to NASBE.

It seems only slightly ridiculous that the idea of 'unconstitutionality' is even being broached here considering Oklahoma wouldn't have had need of HB3399 if the federal government didn't keep stomping on the United States Constitution via the unconstitutional nature of the DOE in the first place and the equally unconstitutional nature of the NCLB waivers handed out to states inconsistently, rather than constitutionally modifying existing law.

Wonder if I should have my lawyer write the president?

Governor Fallin and Supterintendent Barresi - the Federal Grant Twins

I think just about everyone in the state of Oklahoma remembers the Health Care Exchange debacle.  Governor Fallin wanted to take 45 million dollars so Oklahoma could set up health care exchanges even prior to the determination by the Supreme Court as to whether Obamacare was even Constitutional.

Apparently, our governor is at it again.

May 2, 2012, the Administrative Rules and Government Oversight Committee met and disapproved the A-F grading system rules created by the Oklahoma State Department of Education.  [For those uninitiated, there was a bill (HB1456) passed by the legislature last year (authored by Representative Lee Denney) which created the A-F nomenclature for Oklahoma schools - not the grading system itself - the formula upon which the grading was to rest, was left up to the SDE to determine.]

I am creating another more in-depth blog about the process, so I won't go into detail here.  I simply want to point out a couple of things:

• The A-F grading system is the backbone of the NCLB waiver.  Those schools considered failing, according to the grading system, will be taken over by the SDE and subjected to something called the Turnaround model (even more information here).
• To implement the Turnaround model, the SDE applies for something called School Improvement Grants (SIG).

All of these things are written about extensively in the waiver.  They are ALL processes created by the FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.  This program - A-F school grading - is a method by which local control of schools is usurped using money - from a federal government trillions of dollars in debt.

May 2, three things happened:

1. The State Department of Education posted a press release saying that it was receiving nearly 6 MILLION dollars in SIG grants.
2. Mary Fallin issued a press release reaffirming her support of the A-F system. 
3. The A-F grading system was disapproved by the Administrative Rules and Government Oversight Committee.

Here's our take on that situation:

The A-F system is now FINALLY under scrutiny by the legislators who passed the bill last year under the pretense that this would be a way for parents to finally understand how well their school was working for them.  I can't imagine they had any idea at the time that this would be used as part of the NCLB waiver and all the punitive rules for 'failing' schools that came along with them.  Now, if, using the A-F formula, a school is found to be a D or F school, the SDE can come in and take over a school - including 20% of its Title 1 Funding to implement the Turnaround model.  Gone is local control - the state assumes control - using federal money and a federally prescribed program which hasn't even worked in Arne Duncan's OWN Chicago school district, let alone others!

The Governor and Dr. Barresi realize that if the A-F grading system goes down - the WAIVER GOES DOWN - and WITH IT the newly minted 6 million dollars in SIG grants.

So, once again we have to ask ourselves...education 'reform' is it about the kids, the parents, the schools - or is it really, only about money?