The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a set of national kindergarten-though-12 standards developed primarily by nonprofit Achieve Inc., in Washington D.C., under the auspices of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. It was developed bypassing state legislative authority and parents. It was not a state-led effort.

The U.S. Constitution and each state’s constitution maintains that education is a power reserved to each state and its citizens. The U.S. Department of Education compelled states to adopt Common Core by attaching conditions to waivers and membership in an assessment consortia. States accepting the conditions are indefinitely bound to the Common Core standards. The result is a defacto national curriculum and instructional materials effectively supervised, directed, or controlled by the U.S. Department of Education.

To obtain cash incentives from the federal government, New Hampshire Education Commissioner Virginia Barry signed Race to the Top Application Assurances on Jan. 15, 2010, agreeing to implement Common Core before the standards were released and without legislative approval.

The matrix called CCSS has been fraught with deception and underhandedness from the start. That continues today. Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas was threatened by Commissioner Barry with a loss of funding if Manchester did not adopt Common Core. Later she revealed that funding was not tied to adoption of CCSS. The truth needs to be heard, and local districts, like SAU 39, are refusing to give the public a response in meetings. Why? Taxpayers need answers.

Christine Mukai

Amherst

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