The Douglas County Republican Party has voted and resolved that it opposes any nationwide effort, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), ubiquitously known as "Common Core" to impose a curriculum on our students violating parental rights and removing local control over that curriculum.

Douglas County Republican Party Resolution

May 29, 2013

WHEREAS,

the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of national academic standards, promoted and supported by two private membership organizations, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as a method for conforming American students to uniform ("one size fits all") achievement goals to make them more competitive in a global marketplace, (1.)

And, WHEREAS

the NGA and the CCSSO, received tens of millions of dollars from private third parties to advocate for and develop the CCSS strategy, subsequently created the CCSS through a process that was not subject to any freedom of information acts or other sunshine laws, and never piloted the CCSS,

And, WHEREAS

the NGA and CCSSO in concert with the same corporations developing the CCSS ‘assessments’ have created new textbooks, digital media and other teaching materials aligned to the standards which must be purchased and adopted by local school districts in order that students may effectively compete on CCSS ‘assessments’ and for which review requires anyone, including parents, to sign a nondisclosure agreement violating their First Amendment rights,

And, WHEREAS

the CCSS program includes federally funded testing and the collection and sharing of massive amounts of personal student and teacher data,

And, WHEREAS

the CCSS effectively removes educational choice and competition since all schools and all districts must use Common Core ‘assessments’ based on the Common Core standards to allow all students to advance in the school system and to advance to higher education pursuits; therefore be it

RESOLVED,

the Douglas County Republican Party Central Committee, as stated in the current platform, that "control of all aspects of public education should rest with local school boards, not district, state or federal agencies," respecting the right of parents to "have the primary responsibility for their children’s education"; that the Central Committee recommends the following plank for ratification at the next Douglas County Republican Party convention:

We support ongoing reductions in the size, scope, and influence of the U.S. Department of Education in order to facilitate greater state and local control of schools and resistance to any nationwide effort, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), ubiquitously known as "Common Core" to impose a curriculum on our students violating their parental rights and removing local control over that curriculum.