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Dear Friends Fighting Common Core in Wisconsin:
Our legislators have
proposed bills that will replace Common Core Standards several years from
now. This is not acceptable. We need your help to encourage legislators to
eliminate Common Core Standards and all federally aligned curriculum and
tests from Wisconsin schools NOW! If you are willing to help by signing the
letter that follows this message, PLEASE RESPOND BY JANUARY 4, 2013! and send permission to include your name
to:
INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING
WITH YOUR PERMISSION: (1) Your first and last name. (2) How you would like to be identified
(concerned taxpayer, teacher of Middle
Town School,
President of The Best Company in Wisconsin,
Parent of three school age children, etc.) and (3)
Your city and zip code. ALL SIGNATORIES MUST LIVE IN WISCONSIN.
Once signatures are gathered, each legislator and
the Governor will receive a hand-delivered copy of the letter listing all
those who sign on to this letter. The more signatures we have, the better.
Encourage friends and family to participate and to help bring an end to
Common Core in Wisconsin.
LETTER TO GOVERNOR WALKER AND TO THE
STATE LEGISLATORS:
Dear (Legislators):
We the undersigned request that Common Core
Standards and all federally aligned curricula and testing be removed from Wisconsin’s
educational systems NOW! State legislators are responsible for
providing the front-line of defense against federal intrusion into state
autonomy of education. Please correct mistakes made when Wisconsin
legislators passed funding and other pieces of legislation that supported the
implementation of Common Core Standards and the federally aligned curricula
and testing.
Historically, the longer a federal program has been
ingrained into the educational system, the more difficult it becomes to
remove the initiative. Once the testing begins in 2014-2015, Common Core will
be fully implemented. Testing drives all curricula. Thus, it is essential
that all federally funded and supported standards, curricula, and testing be
removed NOW!
Wisconsinites want our own set of standards. That
will only happen when legislators remove the roadblocks they created which
limit the effective implementation of local control of schools.
Many of the undersigned have tried to meet with
school board members to discuss Common Core. When school leadership believes
that funding is dependent upon the implementation of Common Core, school
boards often place walls in the paths of citizens and other board members who
wish to exercise local control. Wisconsin’s
legislators created this problem through funding bills that provide money for
the implementation of specific aspects of Common Core; therefore, legislators
are responsible for correcting this problem immediately.
Under local control of schools, the state Department
of Public Instruction has the responsibility to develop a baseline set of
standards that each school district may enrich. Given the dissatisfaction
with the current Wisconsin standards,
legislators have the authority to demand that the DPI find a replacement set
of standards that schools may adopt immediately so textbooks can be purchased
this summer and the curriculum and testing can be implemented in the fall of
the 2014-2015 school year.
Legislative bodies have the right to inform the DPI
that the Massachusetts English and math standards have allowed Massachusetts’
students to excel in English and math for many years. The legislators have a
right to inform the DPI that the people of Wisconsin
have consistently shown support for the Massachusetts standards. They also have
the right to encourage the DPI to develop baseline standards for Wisconsin by using Massachusetts standards as a guideline.
We are pleased with the two pieces of proposed legislation
that limit the sharing of student data and provide protections from biometric
data collection: LRB-3694/C and LRB-3165-R.
Please include language that requires the state and
local schools to provide parents with accurate, complete, yet, simply stated
descriptions of any mechanical devices that may be used in the testing, a
list of the types of information the district intends to gather, the intended
use of that information by educators, and a list of persons or organizations
that will have access to the data once collected. Thank you for requiring
parents to opt-in before any state or federally aligned biometric testing can
occur.
Respectfully,
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