SB 167 now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives. The House Education Committee will hold a hearing on the bill this Wednesday, March 5 at 3:00 p.m. in room 606 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building. If at all possible, we need everyone to attend the hearing. Rep. Brooks Coleman and Rep. Mike Dudgeon, Chair and Vice Chair respectively of the House Education Committee, have both stated on record that they support the Senate version of the bill and will only accept amendments approved by Sen. Ligon, the bill sponsor.
SB 167 is the strongest anti-Common Core bill to pass out of a legislative chamber in the nation. Its restrictions on data-collection and data-tracking are by far the tightest in the country.
Action Item
Contact the Chairman, Vice Chairman and members of the House Education Committee and urge each one to vote in favor of SB 167 and to vote in favor of only the amendments approved by Sen. Ligon.
Rep. Brooks Coleman (R- Duluth), Chairman
Phone: 404-656-9210 | E-mail
Rep. Mike Dudgeon (R-Johns Creek), Vice Chairman
Phone: 404-656-0298 | E-mail
Click here for a list of the committee members.
Here is why SB 167 needs your support!
It all comes down to this: If SB 167 passes, we’ll have the chance to abolish Common Core from most Georgia school districts as early as the next academic school year; we’ll get an open standards-review process that will allow parents and other interested citizens into the previously closed-door process of setting standards; we’ll get a prohibition on national standards and the testing of national standards, and we’ll protect student data beyond anything thought possible several months ago. If it fails, we’ll get none of this. And every year Common Core remains in effect, it will be that much more difficult to dislodge, and the companies eager to profit off Common Core’s high tech bonanza will become much more difficult to stop.
Expect the following attacks on SB 167
(1) Big companies such as Google are now lobbying to strip the entire data-privacy portion of the bill, because they know strict data security interferes with current data-mining practices.
(2) Superintendents are attacking the bill with false rumors, even advancing the ridiculous claim that the bill gets rid of norm-referenced tests such as the SAT. This bill does not even attempt to replace any current Code section on norm-referenced testing.
(3) Friendly fire on the bill includes complaints that it should mandate an immediate statewide withdrawal from Common Core rather than allow local control over that decision. But if SB 167 had done that, it would have failed in the Senate Education Committee.
(4) Some attacks on the bill just originate from a lack of understanding on how to read legislation or from confusion about how it fits with other existing state or federal statutes.
SB 167 is our only hope of escaping Common Core in the foreseeable future. Your efforts are urgently needed this week with the House Education Committee. Call all House Education members before Wednesday.