Washington state is in the process of adopting an expensive new curriculum called the Common Core Standards. The Obama administration, through the Race to the Top grant, is promising some funds, but not the $300 million it will cost Washington state taxpayers. With CC, we give up our local elected school board members’ input and replace it with a dictated education ran by unelected federal bureaucrats. The Gates Foundation (which spent $173 million to develop CC), may be buying, using and selling not only state testing data but a student’s personal information without parental consent.
Several states have educational standards superior to CC. States like Nebraska and Indiana have already backtracked to compare their standards to CC. They are asking who is behind this initiative? Texas state Commissioner Robert Scott avoided CC because he believes the movement is “about control” and “that the goal is to create national markets for education service providers and vendors.” The Gates Foundation scheme is a monopoly in textbooks, virtual programs and testing software, insuring them years of exorbitant gains at taxpayers’ expense.
The Washington State School Board needs to research CC and its agenda before implementing an education disaster to future generations.
Amy Temme
VANCOUVER