Phone: 404-656-5020
E-mail (david.ralston@house.ga.gov)
With only two days left in the legislative session, it appears that an attempt will be made in the House to “salvage” parts of SB 167, which was killed in the House Education Committee last week. The apparent plan is to strip a Senate bill of its language and insert into it the weak House substitute bill that Sen. William Ligon rejected last week. Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Georgia and American Principles in Action (APIA) oppose this effort.
The salvaged sections would be those that establish a statutory process for developing and reviewing standards, along with some of the data-privacy language. But critical portions of SB 167 would not be included. Specifically, there would be no language making it clear that Georgia rejects the movement toward nationalization of standards; nor would there be express permission for local school systems to exit Common Core standards during the standards-revision process.
The absence of these critical sections makes it impossible for CWA and APIA to support this effort. A bill that allows the nationalization process to continue and that binds the local districts to Common Core for at least another two years is not acceptable.
Please call and/or e-mail Speaker David Ralston by Tuesday morning, March 18, and let him know the following:
- Any substitute language for SB 167 that passes the House must (1) clearly prohibit the State School Board from adopting, re-adopting, or implementing national standards or participating in the national standards movement; (2) starting in September 2014, allow local school systems flexibility to tailor their curriculum and instruction so that they are no longer locked into Common Core standards; and (3) protect students from corporate data-mining, federal data-collection, and an invasive student-tracking system.
- Any bill that does not accomplish these things will be considered nothing but a political ploy to allow legislators to claim they voted against Common Core when they did no such thing.
The legislative session ends this Thursday, March 20. We must remain diligent in the fight for the children of Georgia.
Please call or e-mail Speaker Ralston ASAP.