Stopping Common Core in Ohio!

Local Authority Restoration Act L.A.R.A.

This is the bill we've been waiting for!

From Marianne & Ohio Tea Party Patriots:

Finally, the bill we have been waiting for will be introduced in Columbus on Monday the 18th!

On Monday, Rep. Andy Thompson will introduce the Local Authority Restoration Act - LARA Bill - to the House. Click Here for the summary. The final bill text is not yet available, as we won't have a bill number until it is formally introduced Monday.

We are trying to fill voicemail boxes and need phone calls, by the hundreds, to be made over the weekend.  NOW!!!

Call now through Sunday

Call the people listed below and ask them to support the local control bill being introduced Monday by Rep. Thompson. 

House Leadership: 

Cliff Rosenberger (614) 466-3506

Jim Buchy            (614) 466-6344      

Dorothy Pelanda  (614) 466-8147

Ron Amstutz        (614) 466-1474

Barbara Sears     (614) 466-1731

Mike Dovilla         (614) 466-4895

Below is a list of Representatives who are already showing support by signing on as co-sponsors.

Is your representative on the list?

If so, please call to thank him/her.  If not, please call and ask him/her to show their support and sign on as a co-sponsor.

Current Co-Sponsors: Timothy Ginter, Thomas Brinkman, Paul Zeltwanger, Terry Boose, Ron Young, Ron Maag, John Decker, Stephen Hambley, David Hall, Ron Hood, Kyle Koehler, Tony Burkley, Jim Buchy, Nino Vitale, Steve Kraus, John Becker, Wes Retherford, Anne Gonzales

Click Here for Contact Information

Take Action and Make the Calls!

This is the Bill We've Been Waiting For!

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Updates: Common Core and government shutdown

President’s Day Updates from Ohio Tea Party Patriots’ Marianne G:

If you've been involved in the Common Core Opt Out Campaign, you are well aware of how crazy it was last week.

It started on Saturday with Heidi Huber from Ohioans Against Common Core, coming to Mansfield to give patriots the low down on the rights of parents to refuse the PARCC testing on behalf of their children.

Tuesday and Wednesday HB 7, the bill offering Safe Harbor to our children, passed unanimously through committee and the House, and from what I'm being told, it should pass through the Senate quickly also.

Then hit the tidal wave of parents opting out and refusing the PARCC testing for their children.  There were stories of bullying from administrators, lies, disciplinary threats to teachers, and even a deceptively worded letter from the ODE.

It would great if we could get a feel regarding how many people opted out, and hear their stories and successes.

Please take a moment to complete this quick survey.  Your name and email is not required.  Hopefully, this information will give us an idea of how many kids are not participating in the PARCC tests, what districts experienced the most opt outs, and how people were received by administrators.

Click Here to Complete the Survey

Heroes and Teachable Moments

The battle for the future of our children and their education has created heroes and teachable moments.

The Heroes are the parents that have showed up at School Board meetings and questioned administrators.  The parents who have exercised their right to direct the education of their children by refusing to allow them to participate in the useless and stressful PARCC testing.  The parents that refused to back down and have protected their children.

From those acts of heroism have come teachable moments. Moments that will teach children that you must be willing to stand for something, even if it means there are repercussions; that peaceful protests and freedom of speech are our rights, and no one can take that away, no matter how much they bully.

Kudos to all the hero parents who fought, and continue to fight, for their children.

Government “Shutdown” 

As expected, the media is already fear-mongering with the “government shutdown” threat related to DHS funding.

Three times the Senate Democrats have refused to invoke cloture and allow debate on HR 240, the House passed Homeland Security Funding bill.  One might call that being obstructionists. So where's the media now?

Democrats are opposing the amendments stripping funding from Obama's 2012 and 2014 executive orders lifting a deportation threat for millions of illegal immigrants.  Rather than allow debate, they are obstructing.  Speaker Boehner, believe or not, is standing his ground! Click Here to Read More

Regarding a “shutdown”, Congress has nothing to do with payroll or paying lenders - that's the job of the President and his Treasury Department.  When reporters or Democrats accuse the GOP of forcing a “shutdown,” turn them around and direct them to the executive branch, for it is the President who authorizes a “shutdown.”

Secondly, a government “shutdown” shuts down only  17% of the government.  That 17% is what’s considered to be “non-essential”.  If they're non-essential, why are they there to begin with?

In the case of DHS, 83% or their employees are classified as “essential” - they still work and still get paid. 

Doesn't seem so scary now.

# # #

Common Core House Floor Vote Expected Wednesday, February 11th

From our friends at Ohioans Against Common Core:

Due to the urgent need for action to protect Ohio students, HB7 is expected to be on the House schedule for a floor vote tomorrow.

When – Wednesday, February 11th. House session begins at 1:30 pm

Where – House Chamber & viewing gallery, Ohio Statehouse

Action – Call and turn out! Contact your State Representative and let him know you fully support HB7 and the urgent need for passage. If you are able to attend, let your Representative know so he/she can have you recognized as a guest in the gallery.

Please help us make a presence in the viewing gallery. Given the time wasted this year to testing, some parents intend to make a statement and pull their children early from school so they can be there, too. What a positive lesson in civic engagement, all a direct result of their parents’ tireless fight against Common Core.

If your schedule prevents you from attending, please pass along to grandparents or others whose schedules would allow. Hope to see you Wednesday!

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EARLIER EMAIL ANNOUNCEMENT OF HB7 INTRODUCTION
PLEASE READ IF YOU MISSED AND SHARE WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS

Wednesday, January 29th, HB 7 was filed as an emergency measure by Representative Jim Buchy.

If passed, H.B. 7 will provide the same protections from PARCC testing that the Ohio legislature voted to provide to districts, schools and teachers.

H.B. 7

1) Prohibits 2014-2015 PARCC scores from being utilized for promotion or retention now, or at any point in a child's education career.

2) Provides option to take the End-of-Course exams (currently PARCC & AIR) at any time within the student's high school career, or opting to never take EOC exams, instead choosing one of the other options to earn their high school diploma; e.g., a remediation free ACT/SAT score, passage of an approved job skills assessment, or earning an Honors diploma.

It is extremely important that parents act now to OPT OUT their children from any and all PARCC and AIR assessments. Don't wait to protect your child.

Keep in mind, when the legislature deliberated this last year, they voted to protect the adults. Their vote serves as an admission that the major problems with Common Core and the testing were expected.

What legislator can justify not extending the same protections to our children? 

Make sure your House Rep knows you expect his co-sponsorship and support for HB7. Find your Rep's number here and call today. If he/she has already signed on, take the time to say thank you and then call HB7 Sponsor, Rep. Buchy to extend a thank you, as well.

Direct family and friends to OptOutOhio.com

# # #

Common Core testing

Common Core testing comes to mind:

See our earlier post on the meeting in Mansfield tomorrow morning to "Opt Out Of Common Core assessments" here. 

Gov Kasich needs some wake-up Tweets to Repeal Common Core

Art credit: ownedit.com

From the Columbus Dispatch (h/t Marianne, Mansfield Tea Party) :

Gov. John Kasich doesn’t expect to see a Common Core elimination bill land on his desk.

In a meeting yesterday with the Dispatch editorial board, Kasich was asked about the effort by some Republican legislative leaders to repeal the Common Core education standards for math and English/language arts, along with Ohio’s other standards and tests.

“I don’t know that there’s any effort to repeal Common Core,” he said. “There may be an effort to talk about it.”

Kasich has said he supports the Common Core standards, adopted by Ohio and more than 40 other states in 2010 after they were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers as a way to boost college and career readiness among U.S. students.

“I wish we could just change the name to Ohio’s standards, or whatever,” Kasich said.

The curriculum to meet the standards is developed by local school officials, Kasich said, and parents can advise school boards.

“Until somebody can show me we’re eroding local control, I see no reason to do anything. And I don’t think they’re (the House) going to do anything, to tell you the truth,” Kasich said. “In my judgment, it isn’t going to get to me, and if it does, it isn’t going to look anything like it is."

This is our Governor, the man who is more interested in the wants of his financial backers than the pleas of his constituents, pleas of concerned parents and teachers from both sides of the aisle.  This is the man who wants your vote.

The level of arrogance and ignorance displayed in Governor Kasich's response is outrageous and downright offensive.

Join Us in Our Offensive

We may not have the financial backing of CCSS supporters,  but we do have social media.

Join us TONIGHT, Wednesday evening, the 10th, for a "Tweetfest" showing our support for HB 597, and our lack of support for John Kasich.

How does a "Tweetfest" work?

We are asking everyone to Tweet @JohnKasich, between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on the 10th, and use the following #'s in your message:

#DoYourHomework

#StopCommonCore

#LostMyVote

#DoneWithKasich

Are you a parent or teacher?

#MomsAgainstGovKasich

#ParentsAgainstGovKasich

#TeachersAgainstGovKasich

If you see others Tweeting, Re-tweet theirs.

Let it be known that we expect his support of the complete repeal of CCSS and the support of our children's education with HB 597.

Post this "Tweetfest" information on all your social media, Twitter, FB, Pinterest, etc.

Don't Tweet?  Call or Email

Call the Governor at (614) 466-3555 or email at http://governor.ohio.gov/

Let him know that his arrogance and unwillingness to listen to the people, and his deliberate interference in the due process of the law is unacceptable.

# # #

Common Core indoctrination plans, er, "lesson plans"

Efforts continue in Ohio to repeal Common Core "standards" in our schools. Here is an excerpt from a Townhall report on some of the reasons it's on our "to do" list:

Michael Schaus | Oct 28, 2013 - Aside from the obvious objections to allowing the creators of Healthcare.gov [to] get more involved in the education of America’s youth, a new reason to resist the creepily altruistic “Common Core” curriculum has surfaced. New Common Core teaching materials instruct second graders that land owners are intrinsically evil, that business owners are inherently greedy, and Saul Alinsky radicals are the saviors of the everyman. (Besides – and I know this should seem pretty obvious – do you really want the architects of a 17 trillion dollar debt teaching our kids things like basic math?) 

According to Fox news, a textbook company contracted to produce materials under Common Core State Standards is trying to teach students as young as second grade about economic fairness by praising unions, protests and labor leader Cesar Chavez, according to an education watchdog group.

. . . 

In addition to reading a glowing biography of the Marxist labor leader, students will be asked to evaluate the “scales of fairness” between wealthy landowners, and lowly [non-union] workers. 

“Fairness and equality exist when the scales are balanced,” teachers are prompted to instruct the students. They are then supposed to ask the students whether both sides, as presented in the plan, are equal, providing a correct answer of “no” in the teachers’ guide.

. . .Economic theories, wealth creation, John Smith’s concept of private property, market forces, and Chavez’s radicalism aside. . . There is still a pretty big question regarding why second graders would need to wrap their young brains around the concept of labor unions and so called “scales of fairness.” Quite frankly, putting any organized bureaucratic government agency in charge of disseminating such information to young children is chilling. And given the government’s tendency to view wealth creators merely as untapped tax-revenue sources, it’s unlikely that such lesson plans would be presented without anti-capitalistic bias. 

Once again the common core standards illustrate a decidedly creepy intrusion of politics into education from the highest levels. While education has been largely consumed by leftist philosophies for some time, the danger of Common Core is that this absorption of political activism in the classroom will now be pushed from the Federal level. 

. . . A painfully intense infringement on local control will await any districts that decide to adopt the Fed’s centrally planned concept of “education”. 

. . .

The rest of the article is here.