Yesterday after battling to kill HB323, an amendment (1863s) was introduced by Senator Jeb Bradley​. The Senate then voted to support the amended HB323.

The amended version is a huge improvement over what the NH House passed a short time ago. Remember the original version included language to implement the PACE assessment program. The problems with the PACE program were detailed on the Girard at Large Blog.

We have concerns over what the NH DoE will do if this Bill (as it is amended now) is passed in to law. Will the NH DoE support a local district’s right to choose their own “test”? Will they ONLY fund the assessments they want schools to use? Will Superintendents only use assessments that are paid for by the State/Feds? IF so, that could mean MORE Common Core/Competency Based testing for your schools?

Even with those concerns, it’s important to know that Sen. Bradley’s amendment does provide for the freedom and choice for schools to use the assessment of their choice.

REMEMBER, the voters selected a PRO-Common Core Governor (Hassan) and her DoE is pushing Common Core & Competency Based ed (the Obama education agenda) on all schools in NH.

To fully realize local control in assessments, there may be MORE political battles ahead of us:
1) A possible fight to fund all assessments, even the ones that may not be Common Core aligned.
2) A battle to include funding in your school budget to use achievement tests if the state/feds provide no funding.
3) And finally, it’s important to elect a Governor, Senator and Representatives who are fully committed to fighting Common Core & allowing schools true local control.

There are genuine concerns that Sen. Boutin (33:00) and Sen. John Reagan​ (27:00) brought to the Senate floor and we share their concerns too. It’s unfortunate that we now have to be concerned about what the NH DoE will do with a statute that supports local control in testing.
Will they undermine and work against parents and schools ??

As Senator Reagan acknowledges, the NH DoE cannot be TRUSTED. (27:00)

That’s the state of affairs in New Hampshire under Governor Hassan. There’s no real leadership towards literacy or academic excellence. Her vision is dumbed down workforce training. Her DoE facilitates the Obama agenda and we know that doesn’t elevate the level of excellence in our schools.

This is her legacy in education. Mistrust, dumbed down Common Core standards, flawed Common Core (Smarter Balanced) assessments, parents fighting for their rights, and parents fighting the state for something better.

We’d like to thank all of the good Senators who listened to the many parents who spoke out against HB323 and realized the House version could not move forward as written.

The amended Senate version is a compromise that we are cautiously optimistic about. However this battle does not end here. IT will not end until we make sure our local schools have the ability to test students in a way that parents believe is best for their children. This Bradley Amendment allows for local control in assessments and we appreciate that. But we also acknowledge the sentiments voiced by Senator Reagan that has led us to lose trust in the bureaucrats at the New Hampshire Dept. of Education.

We support the new amended HB323 and if it is signed in to law, we will remain actively engaged in bringing you information that highlights whether the NH DoE will be supportive or work to undermine true local control.