Kansas State Representatives Support Common Core for Your Kids

by John Axtell

Several Kansas Representatives are giving excuses why they won’t support HB 2292, which would repeal Common Core and its associated standards completely. The bill tells Kansas schools they no longer need to take on the heavy administrative burden of Common Core or No Child Left Behind.  And it protects students by giving parents the power to stop predatory practices of collecting and distributing private biometric and psychometric data on their children.
 
Kansas Representatives Amanda Grosserode and John Bradford made public declarations in the past that they would repeal Common Core, but they’re now giving you excuses why they can’t.  And worse – they’re trying to add poison amendments to HB 2292 that will literally destroy it.
 
We need help.  You see, rich, powerful lobbyists are in Topeka EVERY DAY, fighting against our bill. They spend all of their time sowing seeds of doubt into legislators’ minds, making false statements about the validity of good bills and threatening lawsuits that will tear our state apart if they don’t get their way.  None of these are good reasons to go along with liberal lobbyists, but without your voice, the lobbyists will win.  That’s something we can’t afford to have happen.
 
Here are the facts:

• Common Core is a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to educating children, which removes any and all local control. This kind of approach does not allow for an atmosphere conducive to learning and does not make room for diversity in culture, special needs children, advanced children, or unique Kansas needs.
• Common Core is a system where children are preyed upon – over 400 highly sensitive and personal data points are gathered about these children.  This data will follow them their entire lives and one can only imagine how it will be used.
• Common Core is a system where teachers are not treated as professionals, but as facilitators. Worse than that, they are evaluated and paid based on faulty standards and skewed state assessments.

Does this sound like a system worth keeping around?  And to add insult to injury, Kansas is paying enormous costs every year just to support Common Core!  One expert says it will cost upwards of $800 million per year - just to maintain the burden of Common Core.
 
Yikes.
 
So I hope you can see why it’s so important to contact these representatives right now.
 
Representative Amanda Grosserode:
785-296-7659
amanda.grosserode@house.ks.gov
 
Representative John Bradford:
785-296-7653
john.bradford@house.ks.gov
 
Let them know how bad Common Core is for our state. Feel free to include the reasons listed above.  Additionally, make sure they know how important it is for HB 2292 to pass out of committee as written.  Let them know the Local Control of Kansas Education Act (HB 2292) is a great bill that:

• Protects children by giving parents the power to stop the predatory collection and distribution of sensitive personal data on their children - data that will follow the child throughout their school years and beyond.
• Protects teachers - no more teacher evaluations or pay based on skewed state assessments.
• Ceases the implementation of and repeals the Common Core Standards Initiative and all associated testing in Kansas.
• Reestablishes local control of education and prevents Kansas from ceding any control to entities not allowed authority over our education, as per Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution.

With your help, we can expel Common Core from Kansas schools and ensure our children grow up with an excellent educational system that puts children, teachers, and parents first.  

Let’s make a lasting difference that will protect children and teachers in the years to come.

 
 

John Axtell is the Kansas State Coordinator for Campaign for Liberty