I’ve been harping on NC’s State Superintendent Dr. June Atkinson for her dual role as the President of the CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers), which is one of the two D.C. trade organizations who created the Common Core and of which hold the copyright on the Standards. The CCSSO was paired with the NGA (National Governors Association) and with the help of Achieve, Inc., the Common Core Standards were formed.

Truth In American Education has an op-ed up titled, Who Does Gov. Mary Fallin Serve? that takes aim at Fallin for serving both as Governor of Oklahoma and the Chair of the NGA. Oklahoma has had several bills bubble up addressing Common Core, only to have amendments neutering them crop up. It’s happened again:

Last night things changed.  ROPE had another call to action as their was another amendment to the bill:

UNFORTUNATELY, the bill was amended AGAIN today late in the day and the resulting amendment removed many of the best parts of the bill.  Yes, it does still repeal Common Core from law, however, it requires new ‘college and career ready’ standards for English/LA and Mathematics to be developed byDecember 1 of THIS YEAR (2014).  If this is really to be a collaborative, deliberative process, there is NO WAY to do that in 6 months time – unless you copy and paste the Common Core State Standards in Math and English/LA into a document and say they are state standards.  Very concerning!

In addition, the section on assessments so good in the former version has been gutted and changed to say assessments and standards shall “be approved and controlled solely by the State Board” without any indication of what those assessments will be or will NOT be under this law.

What changed?  I’ve been told that Governor Fallin, who made an impassioned defense of the Common Core at a recent NGA press conference, has been visiting the Senate Leadership and Republican caucus meetings trying to bolster support for the Common Core. 

So, like Dr. Atkinson here in North Carolina, it would seem Governor Fallin is more interested in serving Common Core than her citizens and their children?

CALL THEM OUT.

Related:  @DrJuneAtkinson, It’s time for the CCSSO to #ReleaseTheFiles