Thousands of parents, teachers, and concerned citizens are urging Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) to sign a Common Core repeal bill that was overwhelmingly approved by the state legislature. Fallin has until Saturday, June 7 to decide whether to sign the bill that would end the Common Core standards in her state.
Watchdog.org describes the repeal bill as “the most weighty matter still on [Fallin’s] desk.”
The American Principles Project (APP) has led the charge in calling upon Fallin, who is also chair of the National Governors Association, one of the developers and copyright owners of the Common Core standards, to terminate the Common Core project nationally. To date, over 9,000 people have signed a letter that is being presented to Fallin, urging her to end the Common Core in the United States.
“The citizens of Oklahoma have achieved an astounding victory. Armed with the facts, they demanded that their legislators defend their rights and the constitutional structure that protects those rights,” said Emmett McGroarty, APP’s Education Director, in a press release regarding the legislative victory. “They did so in the face of an aggressive federal government, the elitists in both parties, and the powerful education industrial complex hellbent on exploiting our children.”
Similarly, FreedomWorks activists have sent over 5,000 messages and phone calls to Fallin’s office over the past 24 hours, urging her to sign the repeal bill in her state.
“Oklahomans have the chance to lead the nation in the fight to end Common Core. Everyone needs to send a message and call Governor Fallin’s office to make sure she signs this bill,” said FreedomWorks Director of Grassroots Whitney Neal in a press release.
“Common Core takes power away from parents, teachers, and local communities and puts it in the hands of the federal government,” Neal said. “Grassroots activists across the country understand the importance of keeping education local and signing this bill to stop Common Core in Oklahoma.”
A previous supporter of Common Core, Fallin has met in recent days with representatives from across the political spectrum wishing to weigh in on her decision. Ironically, Fallin’s opponent in the November election, state Rep. Joe Dorman (D), has opposed the Common Core from the start and is aligned with conservatives on the issue.
As Watchdog.org reports, Phyllis Hudecki, a national analyst from Fordham University and Fallin’s former secretary of education, is expected to hold a press briefing Monday at the state Capitol where she will make the case once again in favor of the Common Core standards and the concern that repeal of the standards could cost Oklahoma federal education funding if its No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver is rescinded.
Grassroots activist group Restore Oklahoma Public Education (R.O.P.E.) observes, however, “States lose no money if they lose the waiver; they only lose the ability to DIRECT 20% of Title 1 funds, which, in Oklahoma, amounts to 0.5% of the total budget.”
If Fallin does not sign the repeal bill, she will join Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and other Republican governors who say they want to repeal the Common Core standards but instead simply “rebrand” the nationalized standards with another name for fear of losing federal education dollars or political capital. These decisions of establishment Republican governors, who are wed to big government federal bureaucracy, will likely serve to further separate them from the conservative base of the Republican Party.
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