OC Political

The Orange County Board of Education has agendized a discussion of the controversial Common Core curriculum for its meeting this morning.  Under the information items proposed by Board members, the Board has the following on its agenda:

Board Policy 100-2 – All
Common Core – Boyd/All
Brown Act – Boyd
Williams’ OC Register Editorial – Boyd
Oath of Office – Boyd/Parker
AB1266 Resolution – Hammond

(Boyd is Board President David Boyd, who represents the 2nd District.  Hammond is Robert Hammond, who represents the 1st District.  Williams is Ken Williams, who represents the 3rd District.  Parker is Elizabeth Parker, who represents the 5th District.  The only member not mentioned on the list is Jack Bedell, who represents the 4th District.  The district lines roughly follow those of the Supervisorial districts with a few exceptions, including a gerrymander to split the City of Costa Mesa, where both Boyd and Parker reside.  A map of the districts is available here.)

Related to the Common Core discussion, the County Board of Education has also agendized a discussion on this OC Register op-ed on Common Core by conservative Board Member Dr. Ken Williams.  (The Williams op-ed is one of the rare articles that is not behind the OC Register paywall.)  Here are excerpts of the Williams op-ed:

As Obamacare implementation is the subject of national headlines, also in 2014, an equivalent tsunami will occur in America with a controversial national education curriculum arriving in our schools and classrooms. For practical purposes, it transforms and adversely impacts classrooms and removes parents and locally elected school board members from governing schools in their community.

Common Core is a one-size-fits-all program. It was paid for by the federal government – against federal laws that prohibit Washington from establishing national educational standards, testing and curriculum.

It’s similar to the current national health care debate. Common Core’s stealthy implementation by the Obama administration, national and state educational organizations and state governments keep parents and taxpayers in the dark.

…

Originally, 46 states voluntarily adopted Common Core with federal funding “Race-to-the-Top” grants. Conservative states such as Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia and Texas declined to adopt the standards. As opposition increased across the country, Indiana and Michigan recently dropped out under public or legislative pressure.

Here in California, Common Core was adopted by the State Board of Education in August 2010. A main objection to Common Core is it circumvents the ideals and concept of “local control.” In reality, an unelected, governor appointed, 11-member state board of education, decides without substantive debate. Local boards have little input or ability to change curriculum.

Local control of education has been hijacked specifically by unelected officials holding the purse strings in Sacramento; and in general by the federal government and national education organizations. Common Core dismisses the idealism of local control of education by parents, teachers and school boards laid out in the Northwest Ordinance by our founding fathers; it “dumbs down” academic standards; and huge financial costs are born by taxpayers to implement a national curriculum that is unfunded, and has never been tested or proven.

…

In today’s paper, the OC Register editorial board noted (sorry, this one is behind the paywall):

[Lance Izumi, director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute] warned that state schools will shift in 2014 “from the rigorous state standards to less-rigorous Common Core standards. This is a sharp turn backward.” Common Core is a national program, sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, to standardize school curricula nationwide. In California, for example, that means pushing the algebra requirement from eighth grade to ninth grade.

The Board will also be discussing AB 1266, which is described by the Privacy for All Students campaign (the effort to overturn AB 1266) as “a bill recently enacted by the California Legislature and signed by Governor Jerry Brown. The legislation creates the right of elementary and secondary school students to use sensitive sex-segregated school facilities such as showers, restrooms and locker rooms based on the student’s perceived gender identity rather than their actual sex. It’s the only legislation of this kind to have ever been enacted in the country.”

The County Board of Education traditionally met on Thursdays, but moved their meetings to Wednesdays, effective with their previous meeting.  They’re scheduled to meet at 8 AM today in their Board room at 200 Kalmus Drive in Costa Mesa.