to drop out of the controversial Common Core curriculum, a move many believe will "open the floodgates" for more states to follow.FoxNews.com is reporting that the controversial K-12 program designed to impose a national standard of achievement among U.S. students has been kicked out of the state of Indiana due to growing criticism of the curriculum's shoddy standards and the costs imposed by the program.
"I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back, designed our own standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed standards that meet the needs of our people," said Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R).
Indiana may be the start of a "rush for the exit" in other states as well, says Jim Stergios, executive director of the nonpartisan Pioneer Institute, to Fox News.
"Indiana, under [Republican Gov.] Mitch Daniels, was one of the early proponents of Common Core, even the poster child," Stergios told FoxNews.com. "By pulling out, it sends a strong signal to other states, particularly red states, that, 'Hey, if they can do this, then why can't we?'"
This was certainly the case in Oklahoma this week where a Senate panel voted in favor of a bill that will halt the use of Common Core in their schools. It also calls for the development of new English, language arts and mathematics standards to replace Common Core which will be developed and adopted by the state Board of Education by Aug.1, 2015.
The Common Core State Standards Initiative was originally drafted by state education superintendents working with the National Governors Association, and has since been embraced by the Obama administration.
Even though the program is not federally mandated, the government is essentially bribing states to adopt the curriculum by offering them $4 billion in funds if they do so.
This has rubbed many people the wrong way, particularly those who resent federal interference into an area that has traditionally been the purview of states.
Some also believe it is an unconstitutional overreach by the federal government.
"Nationalized education standards should be considered unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment," writes the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly. "The General Educational Provisions Act also prohibits federal overreach by prohibiting 'any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States [from exercising] any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed or published instructional materials by any educational institution or school system. . . .'”
In October, 2013, 100 of the nation's most esteemed Catholic educators, such as Gerard V. Bradley, professor of law at Notre Dame School of Law and Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, sent a letter to every bishop in the U.S. asking them to withdraw support for the curriculum which has already been adopted by 100 U.S. dioceses. The letter insists that the Common Core curriculum was "approved too hastily and with inadequate consideration of how it would change the character and curriculum of our nation’s Catholic schools."
They go on to profess their belief that implementing Common Core would be a grave disservice to Catholic education in America.
"In fact, we are convinced that Common Core is so deeply flawed that it should not be adopted by Catholic schools which have yet to approve it, and that those schools which have already endorsed it should seek an orderly withdrawal now."
Thus far, 45 states have opted into the new standards but an ever increasing number of complaints from educators, parents and students have already prompted the introduction of more than 200 bills in state legislatures this year about Common Core, half of which are seeking to halt or slow implementation.
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