http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/britthem/the-anti-common-core-movement-gains-a-new-ally:
"The Anti-Common Core Movement Gains a New Ally": This week, the GOP Executive Committee in South Carolina unanimously voted to reject Common Core standards. The resolution, which can be viewed here, is a huge step forward in the fight against Common Core. Also shown below in its entirety, unedited. See:
http://www.scgop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/SCGOP-Res-CommonCore.pdf
A RESOLUTION OF
THE SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
TO REJECT COMMON CORE IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Passed December 16, 2013 by a unanimous vote of the S.C. Republican Party State Executive Committee
WHEREAS, in 2010 officials in the Executive Branch committed our state to participation in the Common Core State Standards Initiative through the federal Race to the Top grant application; and
WHEREAS, this participation required our state to adopt the Common Core standards in K-12 English
language arts and mathematics, and to commit to implementing the national SMARTER Balanced (SBAC) assessments, all without legislative oversight and without public input; and
WHEREAS, adoption of Common Core obliterates South Carolina’s constitutional autonomy over education in English language arts and mathematics, placing control in the hands of the federal government and unaccountable private interests in Washington, DC; and
WHEREAS, the Common Core standards have been evaluated by experts as mediocre at best, and based on questionable philosophies; and
WHEREAS, the Common Core standards will inevitably lead to a national curriculum, in violation of three federal statutes; and
WHEREAS, the Common Core scheme will be expanded to include national standards and curriculum in science, social studies, and other subjects; and
WHEREAS, neither the Common Core standards nor the SBAC assessments were ever piloted to determine their effectiveness; and
WHEREAS, both the Common Core standards and the SBAC tests will impose an enormous unfunded
mandate on our state and our local school districts; and
WHEREAS, Common Core is part of a national scheme that includes collection and sharing of massive
amounts of personal student and teacher data;
THEREFORE, the South Carolina Republican Party hereby resolves that our state leaders should:
“Withdraw our state from the Common Core State Standards Initiative;
Withdraw our state from the SBAC assessment scheme, and any other testing aligned with the Common Core standards;
Prohibit all state officials from entering into any agreement that cedes any measure of control over South Carolina education to entities outside the state and ensure that all content standards and curriculum decisions are adopted through a transparent state-wide process fully accountable to the citizens of South Carolina; and
Prohibit the collection of personal student data for any non-educational purpose, and the sharing of
personal data except with schools or education agencies within the state.”
