** Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly // March 2014 **
Ever since Congress began pouring our federal tax dollars into public schools, parents have been solicitous to have Congress write into law that we do not want the federal people or the U.S. Department of Education to write the curriculum or lesson plans for our children. Parents want those decisions made at the local level by local school boards which are, or should be, subject to the watchful eyes of local citizens and parents.
So, since education was considered a state and local responsibility, here is some of the pro-parent language that has been written to many federal laws as school money bills were passed. The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the original federal intrusion into schools, stated: “Nothing in this act: shall authorize any federal official to “mandate, direct, or control” school curriculum. The 1970 General Education Provisions Act stipulates that “no provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any” federal agency or official “to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction or selection of “instructional materials by any” school system. The 1979 law creating the Department of Education forbids it from exercising “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum” or “program of instruction” of any school system The Elementary and Secondary Education Act says no Education Department funds “may be used … to endorse, approve, or sanction any curriculum designed to be used in” grades K-12.
Despite all those strong words, Common Core is clearly imposing national control. The mechanism of control is the tests that all students must take. If they haven’t used the approved curriculum, they will have a hard time passing the tests.
