Gov. Mary Fallin (R-OK) with Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO) on the left and Gov. Terry Branstad (R-IA) on the right.
American Principles Project, Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, Home School Legal Defense Association and several other grassroots conservative groups launched a campaign urging the Chair of the National Governors Association, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, to end the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The NGA, along with the Council of Chief State School Officers, are co-owners of the copyright to the Common Core.
Fallin is facing a Common Core repeal bill that has passed both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature with an amended version that will need to be considered. Governor Fallin has indicated that she is keeping an open mind about the bill, but it would put her in a strange position being chair of the NGA.
The letter has been signed by some of the leading figures in the fight to stop the Common Core State Standards such as Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins of American Principles Project, Phyllis Schlafly the Founder and President of Eagle Forum, Jamie Gass and Jim Stergois of the Pioneer Institute, syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, Joy Pullmann of the Heartland Institute, Michael Farris of ParentalRights.org and Stacy Mott the Founder and President of Smart Girl Politics Action.
Iowa figures such as nationally syndicated radio talk show host Steve Deace, WHO Radio morning talk show host Jan Mickelson and CWA of Iowa State Director Tamara Scott have also signed the letter.
The letter to Fallin states in part:
NGA’s activities, including its ownership, development and propagation of the Common Core,have caused profound harm to our constitutional structure. NGA has enabled corporations and other private interests to drive education policy and, concomitantly, compromised the power of parents. It has enlisted the power of the federal government to bring about these changes and, in so doing, has weakened the power of states to defend the authority and rights of parents and other citizens.
More specifically, NGA has assisted the federal government in employing a strategy against the states that has divided and conquered the state checks and balances that are intended to guard against federal overreach. It has presided over the development of math standards that lock children into a defective education, one that does not prepare children for studies in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or for admission to competitive public and private universities. It has presided over the development of English standards that fail to prepare children for authentic college work in the humanities and that weaken the formation of strong citizen-leaders and individuals of substance who are fully capable of exercising their liberties.
The pushback against the Common Core rests on parents’ love for their children and their defense of the Constitution that protects their rights to form their children and direct their education. It is a movement based on truth, and on highly informed citizens –citizens who follow in the footsteps of the Founders. It is a movement that continues to grow and which will be victorious.
The letter is being sent along with a 13-page statement addressing the unconstitutionality of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Emmett McGroarty, Director of APP Education, with American Principles Project in a released statement said, “The American people know that government has drifted away from them and no longer responds to their will,” said APP Education Director Emmett McGroarty. “This letter details how state government has been turned into the tool of the federal executive branch, rather than responding to the will of the people.”
McGroarty continued, “Governor Fallin, though, has a wonderful opportunity to stand up for the American people and the Constitution that is intended to protect their rights, including their right to have a say in what their children learn and who teaches it to them.”
Parents, teachers and community members are encouraged to add their names to the letter here.
