FACT SHEET: SUPPORT HB 1714

Repeal The Core Curriculum Standards (CCS) for Oklahoma

 Federalizing curriculum is against the 10th Amendment to the Constitution which says that “The
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” “Promote the General Welfare” does not
include public education.
 Senator Tom Coburn released “Pork 101: How Education Earmarks School Taxpayers”. In which he
outlines the tremendous amount of money spent on schools by the federal government, and makes
clear the federal government has no business in the business of education.
 Federal law prevents the federalizing of curriculum: 20 USC 1232a – Sec. 1232a. and The
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Pub.L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27, 20 U.S.C. ch.70).
 The CCS were placed into SB2033 with a number of other education reform initiatives to get federal
Race To The Top funds. WE DID NOT RECEIVE RTT FUNDS.
 9 states have refused to adopt the CCS including our neighbors, Texas. (Hawaii, South Carolina,
Maine, Nebraska, Washington state, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota)
(http://www.corestandards.org/in-the-states)
 3 legislators in Massachusetts have written a repeal of their CCS after finding out that the CCS are
not as rigorous as their own state‟s curriculum and Minnesota seeks to get out from under CCS for
Math for the same reason (http://www.restoreokpubliceducation.com/node/646)
 California is attempting to leave CCS and the Race To The Top funding after finding out that it will
cost nearly 1 BILLION dollars over four years to pay for CCS-aligned text books, 800 MILLION for
new curriculum frameworks, 765 MILLIION for teacher training and 20 MILLION for principal
training (http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/107107.html), a fraction of which would be
paid by their RTT funds.
 Though not a RTT recipient, Oklahoma got money from the federal government to help with CCS
alignment through the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC, approx. 5.1 million
dollars). and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC or
Partnership, approx. 6.3 million dollars).
 National assessments are to be done online, with expensive technology requirements, staff and
teacher training that will far exceed the nearly 13 million dollars received to help with standards
alignment making RTT and CCS UNFUNDED STATE MANDATES.
(http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/107107.html)
 Funds used could either be paid back to the federal government over time, or one of our
Congressmen could write a bill containing a „hold harmless‟ clause which would prevent Oklahoma
from having to pay back CCS alignment monies.
 The federal government has tied Title I money to implementation of CCS, but that seems unlikely.
 CCS/RTT never came before Congress for hearings or debate nor were hearings scheduled at the
state level – not even an interim study on their use was accomplished before making CCS a law.
 In reality, there is nothing conservative about national standards, which will further tie schools to
the demands of Washington bureaucrats but do little to improve student achievement. National
standards create a one-size-fits-all, centralized approach to education. Heritage Foundation
http://blog.heritage.org/?p=39701
 As passed and enrolled, SB2033 stipulates that the CCS cannot be modified more than 15% of the
total curriculum. If the CCS are decided to be not as rigorous as first thought and are modified
beyond that 15%, there could be a very real possibility of our State Department of Education being
in violation of their own school law. 70 O.S. Section 15, B

We need to repeal the CCS before we have spent the money to implement them – before it will cost the
state to repeal them.

www.RestoreOkPublicEducation.com Jenni@RestoreOkPublicEducation.com
Jenni White, President 405.473.8801