Freedom for schools | Onedayinmay2022.org

But then, in 2001, "No Child Left Behind" gave power to THE ELITE: the "experts," bureaucracies, central offices and corporations who treat classrooms as laboratories and public education money as their SLUSH FUND.

NCLB tied the hands of our elected leaders and gave all the power to the unelected State Departments of Education.

S. 1177 One Hundred Fourteenth Congress of the United States of America

and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the sixth day of January, two thousand and fifteen

An Act To reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Every Student Succeeds Act’’.

SEC. 8526A. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL MANDATES, DIRECTION, OR CONTROL.

(a) IN GENERAL.—No officer or employee of the Federal Government shall, through grants, contracts, or other cooperative agreements, mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school’s specific instructional content, academic standards and assessments, curricula, or program of instruction developed and implemented to meet the requirements of this Act (including any requirement, direction, or mandate to adopt the Common Core State Standards developed under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, any other academic standards common to a significant number of States, or any assessment, instructional content, or curriculum aligned to such standards), nor shall anything in this Act be construed to authorize such officer or employee to do so.

SEC. 8549A SENSE OF CONGRESS.

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:

(1) This Act prohibits the Federal Government from mandating, directing, or controlling a State, local educational agency, or school’s curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State and local resources, and from mandating a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act.

(2) This Act prohibits the Federal Government from funding the development, pilot testing, field testing, implementation, administration, or distribution of any federally sponsored national test in reading, mathematics, or any other subject, unless specifically and explicitly authorized by law.

(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS — It is the sense of the Congress that States and local educational agencies retain the rights and responsibilities of determining educational curriculum, programs of instruction, and assessments for elementary and secondary education.

That's right.

But did anything change since 2015?

Or did the establishment convince you that ESSA simply limited the testing to 2% of the school year?

There is hope - but you have to exercise your informed strategic political power.

Carefully choose and educate your local and state political leaders on our ESSA freedom.

Don't assume they know.

Don't assume they've been vetted by the union or a party on THE ISSUE OF STATE TESTING.

Quick multiple choice test: Which of the following politicians would you trust?

And the correct answer is.....NEITHER OF THEM!

Never trust words.

Never endorse words.

ONLY Endorse AFTER Actions.

I bet right now you have candidates who aren't even talking about the wasteful NCLB burdens that are still wrecking our public schools.

But YOU can get them talking.

Private schools choose norm-referenced, paper and pencil assessments like the TerraNova3 (the re-named CAT) to evaluate their students and programs.

They never use the State Exams.

If public schools answered to the parents, like the private schools do, then specially constructed state tests would not be forced on our children.

Public school students deserve no less respect for their time, resources and meaningful evaluation than private school students get.

What a racket! Who benefits from every state creating it's own testing program (CAASPP, FSA, MCAP, STAAR, CMAS, ISAT, IAR, OST, OSTP, WY-TOPP, AASA, PSSA, etc.)?

The sole-source contractors, education elite and bureaucracies who are running the programs benefit.

The students, teachers, taxpayers and anyone who really cares to assess how schools are performing, especially compared to schools in other states, loses.

SEC. 1005. STATE PLANS. (a) (2) (H) (i) ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS

Section 1111 (20 U.S.C. 6311) is amended to read as follows:

(H) LOCALLY -SELECTED ASSESSMENT .—

(i) IN GENERAL .—Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prohibit a local educational agency from administering a locally-selected assessment in lieu of the State-designed academic assessment