I’m in the midst of covering the NC Republican Convention this weekend and just raced home between sessions, so this is going to be a quick entry.

This morning I was honored to be in on a grassroots panel with 2016 Presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz. Multiple topics were discussed and time was running short, but I managed to get the last question of the session.

Markeece Young (@YoungBLKRepub) on Twitter was also there and managed to capture Senator Cruz responding to a question. Yours truly is 2nd on the right from Senator Cruz.

Just met Ted Cruz! pic.twitter.com/kAUZtPPv7N

— Markeece Young (@YoungBLKRepub) June 5, 2015

When I got to ask my question, I started off on a bit of diatribe on Common Core, the invasive data collection on our students and the increasing overreach by the Department of Education.

To be honest, I had a mini-rant moment there. I will try to transcribe the rough audio I have

I drew parallels on the data collection by the Dept. of Ed (which is inherent with Common Core and its tests) with the recent break of over 4 million government workers.

I admit I got a bit worked up on what a train wreck the fundamentally flawed experiment Common Core is and how all the tests are aligned, which pigeon-holes our kids into forced usage of the standards.

I told him school choice was a big deal. The Moms are paying attention to what candidates are saying about education. We can swing a lot of votes. Our kids are watching us fight. I know first-hand, I am one of the fighters.  I rambled on quite a bit, but I had a point and a question.

That question was how do we rein in the increasing overreach of the Department of Education, the data collection in particular, and dislodge Arne Duncan from his fiefdom?

Senator Cruz grinned at me and said, “So let me quote the movie Jerry McGuire…You had me at Hello…”.  Boom!  The room erupted into applause and laughter.

I kidded back that he was better looking than Jerry McGuire. More laughter and applause.

Once the laughter died down, Senator Cruz called Common Core an “abomination” and would like to see states repeal every word. Applause filled the room again.

Senator Cruz continued and said we should abolish the department of education.

Cruz elaborated on his abolishing the Dept. of Education remark and said that “a lot of Republicans get this wrong”.  Abolishing the Dept. of Education doesn’t mean ‘abolishing education’, but instead returning control of education to the states.

“Education is too important for it to be governed by unelected bureaucrats in Washington.”, said Cruz.

“We have direct accountability at the local level,” said Cruz. The Senator stressed the importance of accountability at the state and local level with regards to education. Senator Cruz also noted that being able to work with and speak out at the local level to change issues in education is crucial.