Tavares, FL - Monday, Sept. 2
See update in red below - 37 people have now signed the letter. vj
Florida & Lake County Common Core Update: 12 Florida GOP Committee men & women and County Republican party Chairs sent a letter to other Florida "Republican Leaders" objecting to Common Core. Signers include Mike Levine, Lake County Republican Executive Committee Chair, and Patricia Sullivan, Florida State Committeewoman for Lake County. What is interesting is that the Lake County REC never discussed issuing a resolution so Levine & Sullivan are speaking as individuals without any vote of the REC.
I know, because I am chair of the Public Policy committee
who was going to bring a resolution against Common Core before the REC at the
end of Sept. We were going to do it last month, but the August
meeting was dedicated to Lake County Transportation Funding issues.
But, reasons for prompt action do exist: the recent 3 day Tampa
"Education Summit" was held by Gov. Scott which was not announced
until 2 business days before the meeting with already selected panel members
using the “Delphi” technique and with mostly Common Core supporters on the
panels. The Delphi technique is used by planners and professional
“facilitators” to give an image of fairness when it is really focused on
developing evidence of a pre-determined outcome (i.e. Common Core is
good…). We will have to wait and see what the reports are
like and if raw files of audio or video are available to compare to the final
reports.
Then there was the letter issued by Florida Sen. John Thrasher supporting Common Core, which angered many Republicans and moms. So, the fight is escalating. Look for a resolution (maybe) from the Lake County Republican Executive Committee the end of September.
(Note: the headline in the above article appears to say that the Florida GOP is against Common Core, but the letter was only issued by 12 leaders from different counties (not State Reps or Senators).
UPDATE: Karen Effrem sent me this link, saying the letter was reissued so more GOP leaders could sign it - there are not 37 on the list. (Sept. 3, 9:30 am)
http://www.flstopcccoalition.org/news/2013-08/immediate-release-support-common-core-standards-continues-crumble-rpof.htm
Read about how the Michigan House listened to 15 hours of testimony on Common Core – I spotted several inaccuracies from proponents:
Common Core hearings come to end after 15 hours of testimony ...
I have already been told by FL Rep. Marlene O’Toole (who was on Scott’s panel list) that the planned, Federally funded testing consortium, PARRC, would be rejected in favor of a Florida based consortium.
Additionally, this last Friday & Saturday, I was at the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Summit in Orlando, and one speaker talked about stopping Common Core and the entire crowd of 1000-2000 roared approval.
Additionally, activists keep reviewing books approved by the Common Core committee that are extremely aggravating to conservatives. One World History book on the Florida Dept. of Education book list was found to have an entire chapter glorifying and distorting the truth about the Muslim “religion” while removing most historical accounts about the contributions of Christianity and Judaism. Another just reported this week in another state (that is also on the Common Core approved book list, but maybe not in Florida) was described to be porn for kids.
So, if you have no clue about why Common Core is a concern, read the above and then my factsheet on www.tinyurl.com/HaltCommonCoreNow .
Vance Jochim
Lake County Fiscal Rangers
Chief Fiscal Watchdog
Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness
PO Box 1042
Tavares, FL 32778
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