WHEREAS: the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of academic standards, promoted and supported by unelected, private, NGOs, as a method for conforming American students to uniform, “one size fits all” achievement goals, regardless of local wishes, and did not originate as a North Dakota standards initiative and was developed through a process that was not subject to public transparency; and
WHEREAS: the CCSS program includes federally-funded testing, the collection and sharing of massive amounts of student, family, and teacher data, using a pre-school through post-graduate (P-20) tracking system and a federally-funded State Longitudinal Database (SLDS), creating substantial opportunities for invasion of privacy; and
WHEREAS: while the General Educational Provisions Act prohibits federal authority over curriculum and testing, the U.S. Department of Education’s “Cooperative Agreements” confirm the CCSS test-building and data collection is federally managed, and 2009 Stimulus Bill money was rewarded to states committed to the CCSS agenda without giving the states, their legislatures, and their citizens adequate time to evaluate; and
WHEREAS: the CCSS effectively removes educational choice and competition by forcing all schools to use CCSS "assessments" in order for students to advance to higher education pursuits and binds North Dakota schools to an established copyright over standards, limiting our ability to create or improve education standards that we deem best for our own children.
THEREFORE: As a North Dakota citizen, I urge you to stand up for students, teachers, and parents by voting to Stop & Repeal Common Core in North Dakota at every opportunity.