Tag Archives: HB603

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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Senator Stiles (R) and the Democrats in the Senate Vote Against Parents

NH Senator Stiles (R) and the other Democrat Senators in NH vote “YES” to KILL HB 603. This continues to show parents that Democrats in NH along with a handful of Republicans continue to work against them.

Remember to thank these Senators for supporting parental rights in NH.

Stiles

CALL or E-MAIL GOVERNOR HASSAN: Support Parental Rights

BIG NEWS: HB603 Passed the New Hampshire Senate today and is on the way to Governor Hassan’s desk.
Will she support parents on this important legislation, or will she veto HB603?
CONTACT GOVERNOR HASSAN
Office of the Governor
State House
107 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603)271-2121
(603)271-7640 (fax)

How did your New Hampshire Senators vote?
All of the NH Democrat Senators and one Republican (Senator Nancy Stiles) voted AGAINST PARENTS. The rest of the Republicans in the NH Senate voted in support of parents and HB603.
This bill declares 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..

We’ve brought parents information on how bad the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) is. Parents who’ve made themselves aware and chose to refuse to let their child take the SBA, have always had the right to refuse the assessment for their children. However HB603 was needed because many administrators tied to mislead and bully parents into forcing their children to take it. We even heard from parents who had to hire an attorney to get their school administrators to acknowledge their parental rights.

We suspect the opponents of parental rights in NH still think there is a risk to federal funding IF NH Statute reflects a parent’s right to refuse. Unfortunately that sends a strong signal that $$ is more important than parental rights.

We also want everyone to be aware that we know of no state that’s lost federal dollars (OUR DOLLARS) because state laws acknowledges a parents right to refuse.

When you contact the Governor, let her know that there is NO excuse to deny a parent’s right to refuse. She doesn’t need to use $$ as an excuse to deny you of your rights.

Share this information with her: http://www.fairtest.org/why-you-can-boycott-testing-without-fear
As far as we know, no school or district anywhere in the country has ever been penalized for failing to test enough (95%) of its students. Further, seven states (Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California) have laws allowing opt out, and none have been sanctioned. Parents, students and teachers generally should not fear harmful consequences to their schools due to federal law if parents boycott standardized tests.

NH Senate Ed Committee Votes Against HB603 & Against NH Parents

New Hampshire parents, once again your rights are under attack by the Senate Education Committee.

The Senate Education Committee today voted 3 to 2 against parental rights (HB603) in New Hampshire. HB603 :
This bill declares 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..

HB603 would put into statute important legislation supportive of parental rights to opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

We know the numerous problems with the new Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA):
1) School Board Member and State Representative David Murotake testified that Nashua teachers said this about the SBA
a) totally grade level inappropriate
b) Seems the test was designed more as a psychological or sociological experiment, not as
a measure of academic learning
c) It is nothing less than child abuse for my special ed students in my classroom
2) According to Rasmussen: The Smarter Balanced Common Core Mathematics Tests Are Fatally Flawed and Should Not Be Used An In-Depth Critique of the Smarter Balanced Tests for Mathematics
3) Dr. Gary Thompson, License Child Psychologist calls the Common Core assessments: Cognitive Child abuse
4) Teacher in NY reports that the Common Core testing is child abuse

There is enough evidence to show that the Smarter Balanced Assessment should be halted in the state of New Hampshire. However since our Governor and her Commissioner ignore these warnings, it is up to the parents to step in if the school administrators will not.

Parents have the fundamental right to guide their child’s education and that is consistently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. However in this rush to chase federal dollars, concern for children is no longer taken into account. Yes parents, your children are now subjected to child abuse per trained professionals and medically licensed physicians so we can get our money back from the federal government. TALK ABOUT GREED.

HB603 is a valiant effort to ensure parents will have that right to refuse this abusive testing scheme.

Today April 28th, the Senate Education Committee voted “Inexpedient to legislate” on HB603. That means the majority, three of the five members, voted to KILL HB603 and deny you your parental rights. (Senators Stiles, Watters and Kelly) Why? Well as you can see in this video, Senator Stiles spells it out for you. She’s concerned about losing federal dollars.

Forget that this testing scheme may be harming children.
Forget that the Common Core math assessment is fatally flawed.
Forget that the questions are developmentally inappropriate for your children.
Forget that the Nashua teachers are warning parents about the serious problems with this assessment, Sen. Stiles makes it clear that her concern is over federal dollars.

So is she right? Does New Hampshire run the risk of losing federal dollars? And how much do we get annually from the feds? We all know how high our property taxes are each year and that’s where the majority of your school’s budget comes from.

On average schools receive less than 10% of their budget from the Feds. In other words, you pay over 90% through state and property taxes to your schools but your voice doesn’t matter. The feds pay less than 10% and that’s what Sen. Stiles is concerned about.

Since HB603 would put into statute a parent’s right to opt out of these bad assessments, let’s look at how that has impacted other states. Did they lose federal funding?

According to fairtest.org there is nothing to fear as Sen. Stiles would have you believe.
States, districts and schools sometimes claim they will lose federal Title I funds if parents, students or teachers boycott standardized tests required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As far as we know, no school or district anywhere in the country has ever been penalized for failing to test enough (95%) of its students. Further, seven states (Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California) have laws allowing opt out, and none have been sanctioned. Parents, students and teachers generally should not fear harmful consequences to their schools due to federal law if parents boycott standardized tests.

We’ve heard these threats before but where’s the PROOF? Where’s the proof Sen. Stiles that New Hampshire would lose federal dollars (OUR money) if we were to put in statute the parental rights we already posses?

Why are our elected representatives more concerned about pleasing the federal U.S. Department of Education bureaucrats more than the parents and residents who elect them?

We urge everyone to contact New Hampshire Senators and vote AGAINST the Committee recommendation to KILL HB603 and to support parents in New Hampshire.
Senators@leg.state.nh.us
HB603 SEC vote

URGENT CALL TO ACTION: NH Parents

Senate Schedule 4/14/2015

1) 9:00 AM 4/14 LOB 103 HB 323, relative to the administration of the statewide assessment program.
Please attend this important hearing on testing and OPPOSE HB323.
If you cannot attend, please send an e-mail to: Senators@leg.state.nh.us

SUMMARY: Why to OPPOSE HB323:
* Cements in Competency Based Assessments through state law
* Doesn’t allow “opt outs” for parents if the assessments prove to be problematic
* Adds MORE testing, does not reduce testing
* Makes it difficult for any new Governor to remove CBE from NH schools
* Further dumbs down education instead of focusing on literacy and academic excellence
* Continues to put the State and Feds in control of curriculum instead of local school boards and parents
* CBE is dumbed down workforce training that focuses on dispositions, attitudes and workforce skills vs literacy
* CBE reduces the child down to “human capital” for the state vs. educating the student to the best of their ability

2) 9:20 AM 4/14 LOB 103 HB 603, relative to student exemption from the statewide assessment.
Please attend this hearing and SUPPORT HB603 or write the NH Senators: Senators@leg.state.nh.us
HB603 Protects a parent’s right to refuse the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Read more here: http://nhfamiliesforeducation.org/content/hb-603-protecting-right-refuse-statewide-testing-smarter-balanced-assessments

URGENT CALL TO ACTION:
Many parents e-mailed and attended the hearing on HB206. HB206 AN ACT relative to non-academic surveys or questionnaires given to students that originally included WRITTEN consent from parents before the school district could survey your children.

An amendment offered by Rep. Terry Wolf (R-Bedford) removed written consent and watered down the Bill.
Many parents testified before the NH SENATE Education Committee asking that written consent be put BACK in via an amendment. That has NOT been done and we are hearing that the Senate Ed. Committee will be IGNORING parents and voting against written consent. This is UNACCEPTABLE to the many parents who showed up to testify in support of parental rights.

PLEASE take your time this weekend to CALL the Senate Chair (John Reagan 603-463-5945) on the Senate Ed Committee. Ask him to LISTEN to the MANY parents who want to be fully informed on these surveys.

Here is a copy of a survey given to students in middle school last year: http://www.girardatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Attitudes-Behaviors-Survey-1.pdf

Talking points:
1) Respectfully discuss your concerns about surveys given to children in our schools
2) The Senators received a large number of e-mails from parents requesting written consent from parents
3) This legislation supports local control in education because it’s the parents who will be notified and informed.
4) How can they disregard the large number of parents who showed up to the hearing in support of HB206 WITH a written consent amendment
5) They should not be protecting company profits for survey companies but supporting parental rights

PARENTAL RIGHTS should be upheld by our elected representatives, not undermined!!! CALL TODAY
You can also call this number and leave a message for the Senate Education Committee members: Phone: 271-3091

SUPPORT HB603 : Give Parents the RIGHT to Remove Their Child From Smarter Balanced

HB603

This bill gives parents the right to remove their child from taking the state annual assessment. Thus, reinforcing parental rights as to their control of what their children have access to. The amendment removes part of the bill that was passed earlier this session in HB 206. Other states are allowing parents to exempt their children from testing without any loss in federal funds. The number of students not taking the test should not statistically jeopardize any comparison with other schools.

The picture above gives you information on how the NH House Education Committee members voted on HB603.

You can find your State Representative here.  Send them an e-mail and ask them to SUPPORT HB603.

RALLY for PARENTAL RIGHTS in New Hampshire

PLEASE INVITE and SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS!


Let’s meet in the LOBBY of the Legislative Office Building at 9:00 AM on Thursday, March 5th, 2015.

NH Commissioner of Education Virginia Barry is using Technical Advisories to intimidate parents. Barry believes her directives SUPERSEDE a parent’s fundamental RIGHT to direct the education of his child.

House Education Committee votes on House Bill 603, protecting a parent’s right to REFUSE to allow their child take the Smarter Balanced Assessments without penalty, at 9:45 AM March 5, 2015 in the Legislative Office Building, Room 207.

Please email the House Education Committee: HouseEducationCommittee@leg.state.nh.us
Tell them to PASS HB 603 to respect parents right to REFUSE.

Why should parents be forced to allow their children take an assessment that is SHROUDED in SECRECY? Parents should be able to REVIEW and INSPECT copies of previous assessments from 2013 or 2014. Yet parents are not allowed to do so.

Many are concerned about the dispositional questions, measuring student values, attitudes and beliefs, that are on the Smarter Balanced Assessments.

Others have PRIVACY concerns with the U.S. Department of Education receiving “student level” information from these assessments.

Regardless of the reason, parents have the RIGHT to REFUSE!