Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) accused President Barack Obama of wanting to “bully” states into adopting a Common Core system that would federalize education and eventually empower bureaucracies, instead of local governments, as it imposes top-down standards.
Appearing on Breitbart News Saturday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with co-hosts Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon and Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, Bridenstine said what started with Obama’s stimulus package has morphed into a system in which Obama is trying to “bully” states into redistributing local and state funds more “fairly.”
“He wants to control everything,” Bridenstine said.
Bridenstine also mentioned that the federal government has spent much money on education without any tangible results. He said not every child is exactly the same and that the government closest to the people needs to be in charge of education, not bureaucracies far removed from them. Teachers, he asserted, need to teach to the strengths and weaknesses of children, not to specific tests.
He also said Obama’s budget makes it “very clear that they are making an attempt to federalize education,” which, as he wrote in his op-ed for Breitbart News, is in violation of the Constitution:
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution enumerates federal powers. Education is not among the enumerated powers and, thus, is left to the states or the people as required by the 10th Amendment. Additionally, there are longstanding federal statutes that explicitly prohibit using the federal bureaucracy to control education within the states. Presidents from both parties have violated these statutes.
He went on to express concern over the standardization evident within the Common Core system:
We all believe in higher standards for education, but standardization at a higher level is not the same as higher standards. Common Core is a one-size-fits-all national program with federal funds, federal standards, federal tests, federal accountability, and federal control. If there is any doubt, the president’s 2015 budget request makes transparent his intent to expand federal control of primary and secondary education.
Breitbart’s Dr. Susan Berry, who has relentlessly reported on Common Core, appeared on the program and said Common Core was “onerous on students and parents,” adding that students are getting “psychologically damaged.” She also said that teachers, despite the claims of their unions, do not approve of Common Core, either.
Breitbart News Saturday can be heard weekly on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST.
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