Issue Position: Common Core Standards and Race to the Top

Issue Position

I am avidly opposed to federal intrusion into the public schools. The Common Core Standards and Race to the Top are an overreach by the Obama administration and violate the 10th Amendment of our Constitution. The Common Core Standards have not been internationally benchmarked; they have not been piloted anywhere; and Congress has never approved them. In fact, Congress has never held a public debate nor taken a vote of any kind on the Common Core Standards.

We must avoid participation in this program and instead work from every level of government to eliminate the U. S. Department of Education as systematically as possible. Since the USDOE was established in the 1970's, academic achievement has plummeted. We must make every effort to restore local control of schools and to ensure that both parents and teachers are properly educated in their responsibilities. Because of the "cradle to grave" overreach by the federal government, many people have relinquished their parental responsibilities; and that authority and responsibility must be restored to the parents.

We saw in the savings and loan crisis that a sudden elimination of federal restrictions resulted in very irresponsible and sometimes criminal behavior in the real estate and savings and loan communities. If our country were suddenly to remove the federal influence of the U. S. Department of Education, we could easily have a similar problem. What needs to happen is that the USDOE systematically needs to give up its overreaching regulations and transition them back to the state and local entities.

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