Get Back Ye Feds! (Or Hands Off our Textbooks)

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have coordinated a new effort to induce schools nationwide to use the same math and English textbooks, as well as to give the same tests. Proponents believe such national standards will increase student achievement nationwide. Opponents worry it will lead to bureaucrats in Washington overriding state and local education controls, and they are correct.

Hurray (once again) for Texas and Alaska. Both states have refused to join this futuristic, dark vision of cookie-cutter education across our nation. “Texas has chosen to preserve its sovereign authority to determine what is appropriate for Texas children to learn in its public schools.” writes the Texas Commissioner of Education. Texas Senator John Cornyn goes as far as stating, “It is clear that the first step toward nationalization of our schools has been put into place.”**

The answer to local problems does not come from a “one size fits all” standard put into place from distant authorities.  Education should remain under state and local control, with input from parents, taxpayers, teachers, administrators and school boards whose members are held accountable in public elections. Control should be not given to the federal government and behind the scenes czars and commissions which answer to no one.

This plan is another step on the road toward a federal government that controls everything in its path, including what our children will learn in school. We need to draw the line here and say, "No."  And that’s the biggest lesson to be learned in education.


**The Orange County Register 3.11.2010