Category Archives: Legislation

TED CRUZ’S Proposed S 306: How Does It Work?

by Anita Hoge

His Scary Federal Education “Choice” as a Civil Right, His Fake Repeal of Common Core, and His Phony Support of Homeschools Revealed

PROBLEM: Ted Cruz forces Common Core onto every private, religious, and homeschool in his proposed S 306 with Federal Choice (which is NO choice at all).

Please read:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6zikOSdV-TAaE55c29VcHpqU0k

Supporters of Ted Cruz have been blinded by his words. Study what he has written. When one makes the comment, “…the first time that a private school takes a penny of federal money, those federal strings come along with the federal dollars (IDEA, Section 504, Title I, Title IX, etc.). It is those federal programs that force private schools to lose the very reason they are private,” it shows they have little insight into the entire agenda.

With S 306 a private school does NOT accept “federal dollars,” they accept the “federal child.” The money “follows the child.” When an ESA is packed full of government money in a scholarship or voucher, the word government is erased from the money when it is handed to the new school of choice that enrolled the federal child…it just becomes money that is transferred from parent to school…it’s about the child. So the real agenda totally escapes some. A private or religious school must accept the “federal child.” All federal kids have the availability to move to a new school. This is the Title I civil rights and eliminating the “zip code” issue that both Obama and Ted Cruz talk about.

But, ESSA is the federal monitoring machine that enforces “public school choice” accountability for the government’s investment. That ESA money pays for more than tuition to go to the school of your choice. It also pays for “direct student services” which follow and stick to the federal child with the money right into that private or religious school. Title I identifies the child to move to any school. IDEA identifies the child for psychobabble intervention services. This is what “follow the child” means. Common Core standards are for individual children that also “follow the child.” It’s the law of the land. It may not be legal, but the legislation was passed. Many people miss that control. That’s why the NCES state longitudinal data systems/data mining/data sharing/FERPA fiasco created the unique national ID…to monitor individuals..you know, “follow the child” right into the workforce. Cruz supporters are blinded by their candidate. Read Pennsylvania Moratorium on Data: http://www.newswithviews.com/Hoge/anita111.htm

What about homeschools? We didn’t see mention of that section of Cruz’s bill.

As far as all of the other candidates running for president, you believe that Cruz is the one who believes they will stick to the Constitution. I believe otherwise. You better read through ESSA and take better notes on the state sovereignty issue and then study what Cruz plans to do. No one has explained more precisely than Barack Obama and Ted Cruz what they will do to our Constitution. Cruz explains in S 306 how he plans to do that. No other candidate has been as clear as to what their motives truly are. Ted Cruz wrote it like he meant it. Control.

Other candidates have shown their willingness to do the same, just not so blatant: all governors know the agenda, so that eliminates Christy, Jebbie, Kasich. They are all part of the agenda. Fiorina is part of the data mining federal government machine. Rubio leans toward choice, vocational Ed and charters. Carson, supports choice. Trump same thing. But Common Core and Choice are buzz words. We have no idea what these last three will do to uphold the Constitution and protect our future as Americans. But if they knew about Cruz’s agenda, would they support the same thing?

I can tell you what I do know. I do know that S 306 was written by a traitor.
S 306 was written by an establishment insider. That insider is Ted Cruz.

Re-read the last few paragraphs of my small article on Ted Cruz again, again, and again. It’s hard to retract something as blatant as Ted Cruz’s openness to do away with Representative government and say he’s for the Constitution.

http://www.newswithviews.com/Hoge/anita123.htm

PS: Cruz just wrote a bill that gives DC scholarships to ALL children. What do you think of that? Is this the first pilot for per pupil expenditures with Title I portability in ESSA?

http://www.cruz.senate.gov/files/documents/Bills/20160122_EducationalFreedomAccountsAct.pdf

IMPORTANT MEETING on ESSA in Concord Friday

The new federal law on education, ESSA, is SOLD as if the Feds return power to the states. Only politicians would lie and tell you that a 1061 page federal law returns power to the states.

The best question to ask is,
Why does ESSA give unprecedented power to the U.S. Secretary of Education that requires him to approve “state plans” that include the academic standards?
Those state plans have to coordinate with 11 federal statutes which means they must BE Common Core or something LIKE Common Core.

DO not be fooled. ESSA doesn’t get RID of Common Core, it embeds it in our state.

This FRIDAY at 10:30 am, the NH Commissioner of Education, Virginia Barry will offer a presentation to the Education Committee at the Legislative Office Building Room 207 on ESSA.

Parents are encourage to attend this meeting to hear our Commissioner explain this new law.

Will she explain how ESSA codified in law the expansion of pre-school programs? And at the same time explain how the Head Start program has been a drain on taxpayers with no real results to speak of? The Head Start studies showed Head Start was a failure but ESSA will expand the push for universal pre-school.

Will she explain that ESSA federal testing requirements are aimed more at assessing your child’s attitudes and dispositions versus academic knowledge?

As part of the ESSA law, states must come up with a PLAN for education that includes a “FAMILY ENGAGEMENT PLAN.” The US Dept of Education (USED) is supposed to come up with their own Family Engagement Plan that states MAY adopt, if they don’t want to do their own homework.

What about President Obama’s special project known as the “21st Century Community Learning Centers.”
[This] means that schools will be expanded to replace family and church as the center of every child’s life, offering myriad “services” including mental-health programs. Few things should alarm parents more than the prospect of the government’s assessing their child’s mental health and proceeding to fix any problem the government claims to find. But this is what the Republican Congress has given us.

Parents and legislators have a right to hear the truth. The good and the bad. Not a list of talking points provided by the supporters of ESSA which included the NGA and the CCSSO. (Common Core architects and supporters)

URGENT: Cong. Anne Kuster stabs every NH child, teacher and parent in the back!

We have been fighting against the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind for several months now. It began with the U.S. House drafting H.R.5 and the U.S. Senate drafting “Every Child Achieves Act”. After each bill passed the House and Senate, they were then sent to a Conference Committee to come up with a final Bill. That final Bill was released with over 1,000 pages and voted on within a few days giving the public and their elected House members a short time to read and identify the numerous problems that still existed.

On December 2, the U.S. House voted to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. How did your New Hampshire representatives vote?

Cong. Frank Guita (R) : NAY
Cong. Anne Kuster (D) : YEA

In other words, Cong. Anne Kuster just stabbed every NH child, teacher and parent in the back with her YEA vote. This also means that Cong. Frank Guinta is due a big THANK YOU from all of his constituents.

What again is so wrong with reauthorizing the failed federal education reform, No Child Left Behind? We can look at a letter sent to the new Speaker of the U.S. House, Paul Ryan, from a State Senator in Georgia, William Ligon.

In Ligon’s letter he talks about the over-reach by the federal government into public education:

“The latest attempt by Congress to reauthorize ESEA under its new name, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is a prime example of how the federal government exceeds its constitutional authority. Many of our supporters in the Republican base are wondering why we need a 1061-page federal bill dealing with education policy. I have been told by a member of our congressional delegation that bill’s length was needed to repeal many existing federal laws dealing with education. Unfortunately, a review of the bill reveals not much in the way of repeal but that once again the federal government is driving education policy in every State in the Union through grants and waivers.”

State Senator Ligon goes on to identify the problems within the legislation:

“As for ESSA specifically, here are a few of the issues that I find troubling in the bill. Although Section 8544 (p. 859) assures us that States face no penalties for withdrawing from the Common Core standards or for otherwise revising their standards, ESSA requires that state standards must align with higher-education requirements. Since federal mandates have already ensured that our colleges and universities have aligned their entrance requirements with Common Core (known as College and Career Ready) then it would appear that we again have an entire process, both lengthy and expensive, to readdress college entrance requirements before Georgia could exit the Common Core. Furthermore, ESSA still requires “career and technical education standards” that must align to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It is also apparent that ESSA still requires state educational plans, which includes standards, to comply with 11 existing federal statutes, and that the Secretary of Education must sign off on these plans (Section 1005, amending Section 1111(a)(1)(B), pp. 38-39). These statutes run the gamut from Head Start to WIOA. As with all the previous reform legislation from Goals 2000 onward, this bill is intertwined and additive to the overall federal framework for education. ESSA may mitigate some of the onerous effects of NCLB, but it continues to advance the top-down, federal reform agenda.

I am also greatly troubled by the bill’s language that expands the federal role in government preschool in Section 9212, bringing us closer to President’s Obama’s vision for universal preschool. The best research shows that early education has little to no effect on long-term learning. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services conducted its own rigorous scientific evaluation of Head Start and found that three- and four-year-old preschoolers had no measureable benefits from the program when evaluated in both the first and third grades. The study even failed to show improvements in parenting outcomes and child health outcomes. There were even negative social-emotional development effects associated with these children who had attended Head Start.

Early education through government programs not only wastes money, but is based on a faulty foundation. The best early childhood learning takes place with family, not government programs. Furthermore, the assurances (pp. 968-969) that the Secretary of Education cannot prescribe early learning development guidelines, standards, or specific assessments, preschool curriculum and the like are meaningless when considering that preschool authority rests within the Department of Health and Human Services (p. 971), and such programs already require adherence to Head Start, which demands federal performance standards, or the Baby Common Core as some have dubbed it. There are already 45 federal early learning and childcare programs that spend $14.2 billion annually. This bill continues to expand early learning subsidies and will add another $1 billion in spending over the next four years.

Within this topic of early childhood education, I would be remiss if I did not also mention that data collection on these children is invasive and that these early learning data systems are designed to link with not only the K-12 data systems, but also post-secondary data, and labor data, as well as universal newborn screening and health data systems. This is readily apparent from a quick review of Early Learning Challenge grants from various states. It is truly a cradle- to-grave system of government data collection on the citizens of this nation. Congress is paving the way for the next generation to live in the” brave new world” which facilitates the government’s management of its citizens. If history is any guide, when government controls this much information on its citizens, it will abuse its power.

ESSA continues the federal testing mandates (Section 1005, amending Section 1111(b)(2), pp. 52-54). And the types of assessments dictated by the bill include subjective assessments of students’ skills and psychological attributes via the requirement to assess higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Even though the bill states that assessments will not evaluate or access personal or family beliefs or attitudes, by definition, HOTS, as developed in Bloom’s Taxonomy, includes not only the cognitive domain, but the affective domain and the psychomotor domain. Particularly, the affective domain includes attitudes, feelings, values, motivations, and the like. The federal government has no business imposing any requirements concerning state assessments, but certainly should not require assessments that target students’ psychological profiles.

The bill also incentivizes the Obama administration’s pet concept of schools as “community learning centers,” perhaps more accurately dubbed “parent replacement centers.” This section of the bill, Part B- 21st Century Community Learning Centers (Section 4201, starting on p. 489), creates a service center for youth development that could offer anything from health care and wellness programs to service learning or “environmental literacy.” In addition, the Promise Neighborhoods (Section 4624, starting on p. 606) provide another smorgasbord that offer services to train families to promote early learning and child development as well as provide “social, health, nutrition, and mental health services and supports, for children, family members, and community members…” (609-610). The nanny-state just continues to grow in this legislation.”

We encourage you to read the letter in full to get all of the details.

The U.S. Senate must now vote on this compromised bill. That’s why it’s important for New Hampshire residents to contact U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte immediately to let them know this latest version is unacceptable and they need to vote NO. (202) 224-3121

As the Republican presidential primary unfolds, it’s pretty clear that the outsiders have an advantage among the Republican voters. Why? Because it’s obvious that the establishment is not listening to their constituents. Republican voters are angry that their voices are not being heard in D.C. or by the Republican Governors. (Remember, Gov. Jeb Bush supports this reauthorization) Voters are angry that legislation like this can be put forth and supported by Republicans.

We are fortunate that our Republican Congressman Frank Guinta (R) listened to the parents and teachers in New Hampshire. But many, including Anne Kuster (D) and the Democrats in D.C., did not.

ESEA

CALL TO ACTION: Stop “Every Child Achieves Act”

S. 1177 needs to be stopped. Not only is it a dangerous bill, but the U.S. Senate violated basic civic procedure In Reauthorization of ESEA. There were NO PUBLIC HEARINGS for parents. Why don’t our Senators want to listen to parents? Please tell your two Senators to vote “NO” on S. 1177.
Listen to Sandra Stotsky’s warns of U.S. Senate’s “Gross Violation of Civic Procedure” In Reauthorization of ESEA :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrMeau5-Dz0

S.1177

Oregon’s Governor Does What Gov. Hassan Refuses To Do: Stand UP For Parental Rights

We told you that California currently has a law on the books that recognizes a parent’s right to opt their children out of the flawed and damaging standardized tests. We also told you that California has lost no federal money in spite of the nauseating threats by Federal and State officials. And lastly we told you that Governor Hassan caved in to the business interests and vetoed HB603 which would recognize parental rights when it comes to excluding your children from the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Good News! Oregon Governor Signs Opt-Out Bill into Law

http://dianeravitch.net/2015/06/23/good-news-oregon-governor-signs-opt-out-bill-into-law/?fb_ref=Default&fb_source=message

Despite pressure from the big spenders at Stand for Children and other titans of corporate reform, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed the legislation allowing parents to opt out of state tests.

Federal officials had warned that the bill, which also reduces the consequences for schools where many students skip tests, could lead the federal government to withhold millions in federal education funding.

House Bill 2655, which was strongly backed by the Oregon Education Association, prioritizes the rights of parents to exempt their children from that one aspect of public schooling over the desire of school accountability proponents to get complete reading and math test results for all students each year.

But Brown said she wants Oregon educators to make the case to parents that taking part in state tests is valuable so that they will opt for their children to keep taking the exams.

The new law means that, beginning next spring, schools will have to notify every family at least 30 days before state testing begins about what the tests will cover, how long they will take and when results will be delivered. Those notices will also tell parents they can exempt their child from the tests for any reason.

Friends in Oregon: Forget the governor’s misgivings! Opt out is the best tool you have to protect your children from the current national mania for standardized testing. Opting out will curb the overuse and misuse of standardized testing. Former Texas state commissioner of education Robert Scott memorably said in 2012 that the educational industrial complex was out of control and that testing was “the heart of the vampire”

He also said:

The assessment and accountability regime has become not only a cottage industry but a military-industrial complex. And the reason that you’re seeing this move toward the “common core” is there’s a big business sentiment out there that if you’re going to spend $600-$700 billion a year in public education, why shouldn’t be one big Boeing, or Lockheed-Grumman contract where one company can get it all and provide all these services to schools across the country.

I mean, that’s really what you’re looking at. We’re operating like a business.

NH’s Governor Hassan: The Most Anti-Parental Rights Governor?

Governor Hassan and the Business Industry Association (BIA) are fighting against parental rights in New Hampshire

California has a law that specifically states a parent’s right when it comes to excluding their children from the state standardized assessment.

“Not withstanding any other provision of the law, a parent’s or guardian’s
written request to school officials to exclude his or her child from any
or all parts of the assessments administered pursuant to this chapter
shall be granted.” [Section 852 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations
further provides that parents or guardians may annually submit a written
request to the school to excuse their child from any or all parts of the
CAASPP for the school year. See 5 C.C.R. §852(c).]

Just last week Governor Hassan VETOED HB603 which would have clarified your right to exclude YOUR children from the state standardized assessment. California is MORE parental rights than Governor Hassan!

Why is HB603 needed when many parents in New Hampshire excluded their children this school year?
Many parents were given false and misleading information from their school administrators when trying to exercise this fundamental right.
Is the Nashua Superintendent Misleading Parents?
What To Do When Your School Administrators Mislead You

Administrators used a technical advisory from the New Hampshire Department of Education that misled many parents into believing they had no right to opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

For whatever reason, many administrators did not share the technical advisory that indicated that there were no New Hampshire laws preventing parents to exclude their children from this annual assessment.

By signing HB603 into law, there would be no confusion.

Not only is California protecting the rights of parents through state statute, parents are now demanding that their Department of Education INFORM parents that this law is on the books and they have this right to REFUSE.

What has New Hampshire’s Governor done? NOTHING to protect or inform parents of their fundamental rights.

WE continue to ENCOURAGE you to CONTACT the New Hampshire State Representatives and Senators and ask them to OVERRIDE Governor Hassan’s VETO of HB603.

E-MAIL:
HReps@leg.state.nh.us
Senators@leg.state.nh.us

Taken from the California petition and slightly CHANGED to fit NH :
There are probably as many reasons for parents and guardians to opt their children out of these tests as there are children. These include:

1) College-bound children already face a round of tests that determine their child’s college readiness – including, but not limited to, the SATs, the ACTs and various Advanced Placement Exams.

2) This computer-based testing program lacks a proven track record. The secrecy and non-transparency of the tests is a factor here. These tests have not been proven to be fair, reliable, valid and unbiased. There are unanswered questions about cut scores and whether the tests are developmentally appropriate.

3) Children with learning disabilities are being tested on material that is beyond their IEP (Individualized Education Program), whereas parents and guardians of children enrolled in accelerated programs are subjected to tests on material already covered in previous years.

4) Concern about about the privacy and security of the tests. Many object to the fact that private, for profit corporations are data mining their children with few specifics about how these companies can use this information in the marketplace. Others are concerned that the testing companies routinely monitor schoolchildren on their social media to uncover discussions about the tests. These vendors ARE NOT covered by the FERPA law.

5) Children who are sick, emotionally disturbed, suffering from personal or family trauma are already experiencing too much stress. Testing is one more stressor and it is unlikely that the test results will reflect their children’s abilities.

6) Tests have only served to narrow the curriculum — de-emphasizing the so-called ‘non-testable’ subjects that include the arts, PE, vocational studies, foreign languages, recess and other important components of a comprehensive education. Many do not like the fact that these high stakes tests have created an atmosphere of ‘teaching to the test’.

7) Time and money spent on the testing programs which extend beyond the administration of the tests. They see allocations for test prep materials, teacher training programs, tech support, and most significantly, expensive educational technology diverting money from other essential programs.

BIA (Business Industry Assoc.) Lobbying Against Parental Rights In NH

It looks like the BIA (Business Industry Assoc.) stands in OPPOSITION of parental rights in New Hampshire too.
BIA HB 603 Letter

We now have our Governor and a business lobbying group working against parents in New Hampshire.

We continue to encourage business to withdraw from the BIA. The BIA lobbies in favor of the dumbed down Common Core standards for our children and now they are lobbying against parents too.

Governor Hassan Vetoes Pro-Parent Legislation AGAIN!

Governor Hassan is on her way for being the most anti-parental rights Governor we’ve seen in New Hampshire for a long time.

Today Governor Hassan vetoed a parental rights Bill (HB603) which declared that a student exempted from taking the statewide assessment by the student’s parent or legal guardian shall not be penalized. The bill also requires a school district to provide an appropriate alternative educational activity for the time period during which the assessment is administered..

Parents in New Hampshire have already begun refusing to let their children take the seriously flawed Smarter Balanced Assessment. Let’s not forget that it was Governor Hassan’s inept Dept. of Education that signed on to the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Many parents took time to address the New Hampshire House and Senate Education Committees in support of HB603. It was important that parents had a law they could point to when informing their local school district that their children would not be taking the assessment.

Once again, Governor Hassan ignored those parents and instead VETOED this important legislation.
What were her reasons?

According to her press release she said:
“House Bill 603 would create a student opt-out option from the statewide assessment process. This bill would conflict with current state educational accountability laws, undercut one of the tools that educators use to evaluate K-12 student progress, and jeopardize federal funding for New Hampshire schools.”

Governor Hassan seems to be using the excuse that the Federal Government MIGHT withhold federal funding for education if we acknowledge parental rights in state statute.

However if she did a little research she would find that this empty threat has been made over and over again.

Will schools lose federal funds if kids don’t take mandated tests? Fact vs threat.

You can boycott standardized tests without fear of federal penalties to your school

So does this mean that we have a Governor willing to sell your children to the Federal Government? Do we have a Governor who refuses to LEAD New Hampshire and would rather cower to these empty threats? Do we have a Governor who refuses to help the many parents who were frustrated by their school administrators who misled them into believing they did not have the right to refuse these tests?

What we are seeing from Governor Hassan is not only a lack of leadership but an unwillingness to stand up for the parents in New Hampshire.

Parents are URGED to write the New Hampshire Senators and Representatives and ask them to OVERRIDE Governor Hassan’s veto of HB603 and SUPPORT the parents in New Hampshire!!

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