Please try to do one or more of the following by Monday.

1. Call President of the Senate, Don Gaetz and Speaker of the House, Will Weatherford to support a "Pause" with common core entirely.
Below is information that you can copy or use as a reference in your communication.

Dear President Gaetz and Speaker Weatherford,
      Florida parents want to "Pause" the implementation of Common Core. We find our request to be reasonable based on founded facts and evidence.
      For clarification having standards is not the problem; however what should be discerning to you is that the standards you are allowing to be implemented are below the international benchmarks we are striving to compete against. The progressive CCSI movement has underhandedly coined a new phrase to avoid the truth. Instead of addressing the fact that the standards are not internationally benchmarked, you will be told that they are "Globally Competitive".
      James Milgram, the mathematician who served on the Common Core validation committee and refused to sign off on the standards, said:
“I can tell you that my main objection to Core Standards, and the reason I didn’t sign off on them was that they did not match up to international expectations. They were at least 2 years behind the practices in the high achieving countries by 7th grade, and, as a number of people have observed, only require partial understanding of what would be the content of a normal, solid, course in Algebra I or Geometry. Moreover, they cover very little of the content of Algebra II, and none of any higher level course… They will not help our children match up to the students in the top foreign countries…”
      Likewise, Professor Sandra Stotsky, who served on the same committee, who also refused to sign off on the Common Core standards because they were academically inferior, has written:
“…we are regularly told that Common Core’s standards are internationally benchmarked. Joel Klein, former head of the New York City schools, most recently repeated this myth in an interview with Paul Gigot, the Wall Street Journal editor, during the first week in June. Not mentioned at all in the interview or the op-ed he co-authored in the WSJ a week later is Klein’s current position in a company that does a lot of business with Common Core. An Exxon ad, repeated multiple times during a recently televised national tennis match, also suggested that Common Core’s standards were internationally benchmarked. We don’t know who influenced Exxon’s education director. Gigot never asked Klein what countries we were supposedly benchmarked to. Nor did the Exxon ad name a country to which these standards were supposedly benchmarked. Klein wouldn’t have been able to answer, nor could Exxon have named a country because Common Core’s standards are not internationally benchmarked. Neither the methodologically flawed study by William Schmidt of Michigan State University, nor the post-Common Core studies by David Conley of the University of Oregon, all funded by the Gates Foundation, have shown that Common Core’s content is close to, never mind equal to, the level of the academic content of the mathematics and English standards in high-achieving countries. Moreover, Conley’s studies actually contradict the findings of his much earlier pre-Common Core study showing what college faculty in this country expect of entering freshmen in mathematics and English.”
      Furthermore, the research conducted by the Fordham, Pioneer, and Heartland Institute prove that Common Core Standards do not supersede our Sunshine Standards currently in place.
      These concerns leads us to our second question, why are we rushing to spend millions of dollars to implement an education model that has not been proven or tested to be better than existing standards? We the taxpayers of Florida want a budget review of the exact cost to implement the substandard.
      Thirdly, we want a legal review of the constitutionality of the federal mandates required by receiving the "Race to the Top" federal grant money. Not only are the standards poor but the underhandedness of the federal government to tie the copy written common core standards and the required data mining of 400 plus points of private information as a requirement, in which will feed into Florida's Department of Education's longitudinal database to then be forwarded into a federal data tracking base. We the parents do not give permission for our children's private information to be obtained and forwarded to the federal government and find that the federal stimulus is an overreach into our local and state control by making this a requirement in receiving the "Race to the Top" federal grant money.
      Therefore the parents, taxpayers, and voters of Florida strongly urge you to please allow for a "Pause" in order to evaluate our concerns before the full implementation due to take place beginning of the 2014 school year.
      We encourage you to question the next time someone says that Common Core will increase U.S. international competitiveness because the standards are “internationally benchmarked,” simply ask them what evidence they have. This phrase is misleading millions of people.

2. Contacted your State Representatives about CCSS if you haven't already. Contact information is provided below. There is also a sample letter, please write your own or edit the sample to make it more personal.

Dear ____________________
I am here to respectfully, but firmly state that I oppose the Common Core standards in no uncertain terms will hold you, as our elected member of the legislature, personally responsible for the academic damage and high costs that these untested, never used standards will impose on us and the rest of the citizens of Florida. Here are just a few of the many reasons why we oppose Common Core:

1) DECREASED ACADEMIC QUALITY – Despite the rhetoric coming from the Education Commissioners (Past and Present) and groups that have a vested financial interest in the imposition of these standards, they are NOT rigorous. At least two members of the Common Core validation committee refused to sign off on the final version of the standards because:

• No data was ever provided that Common Core is as rigorous as the standards of other
high performing countries.

• According to Dr. James Milgram, the only mathematician on the committee, the math
standards will put students more than two years behind their international counterparts

• According to Dr. Sandra Stotsky, a nationally respected standards expert in English, the
Common Core standards are at a 7th grade level. “Common Core’s standards make a coherent K-12 ELA curriculum unattainable” and will result in “fewer opportunities for students to acquire the general academic vocabulary needed for college work.”

2) EDUCATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION – The standards were adopted without public hearing by the appointed State Board of Education. No legislator or county school board member voted on these standards or even really understands what is in them or how they will affect our children.

3) LOSS OF LOCAL CONTROL – The standards are copyrighted by Washington DC trade groups funded by the federal government and the Gates Foundation. They were required to be adopted word for word.
The federal government is paying for and overseeing the development of the national tests and model curriculum. Although theoretically, districts can choose their own curriculum, given that the high stakes testing will determine district funding, student graduation, and teacher pay and tenure, it is far more likely that teachers and districts will choose this federally funded model curriculum, resulting in a de facto national curriculum.

4) DATA TRACKING– A state longitudinal database was required by the Race to the Top grant. The State of Florida is required to align its database to the National Center for Education Statistics data elements and provide individual data on workforce outcomes. For the Department of Education to say that there is no data tracking is not aligned with reality. This was a requirement in the Race To The Top Contract which was signed by Governor Crist.

5) ENSNARING PRIVATE AND HOME SCHOOLS– Although nothing in any law currently says that private and home schools must use Common Core, Governor Scott said that he wants all voucher students attending private schools to take the state tests, which soon will be aligned to Common Core. There are plans to align the college entrance exams to the Common Core. These decisions will severely limit the freedom and flexibility of private and home schooled students to pursue an education outside of the Common Core.

There are no more important matters to me than the education and futures of my children. Our children are not "common", each are unique and have different educational needs. Your decision will directly affect my willingness to support you in the next election. Please do the right thing and stop Common Core.

Sincerely,
Signature______________________________
Address _______________________________
Email__________________________________
District &/or County ________________________

Contacts for your State Elected Officials

Will Weatherford-Speaker of the House
28963 State Road 54
Suite A
Wesley Chapel, FL 33544-3218
Phone: (813) 558-5115
Email: will.weatherford@myfloridahouse.gov

Don Gaetz – President of the Senate
Suite 230
4300 Legendary Drive
Destin, FL 32541
Phone: (850) 897-5747
Fax: (888) 263-2259
Email: gaetz.don.web@flsenate.gov

Senators
thrasher.john.web@flsenate.gov,
gibson.audrey.web@flsenate.gov,
dean.charles.web@flsenate.gov,
bradley.rob.web@flsenate.gov,
bean.aaron.web@flsenate.gov

State Representatives
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representati...
(You must click on the above line and email them directly through this site.)
Janet Atkins Nassau and part of Duval
Ray Lake Part of Duval
Reggie Fullwood Part of Duval
Mia L. Jones Part of Duval
Daniel Davis Part of Duval
W. Travis Cummings Part of Clay
Charles McBurney Part of Duval
Charles E.VanZant Bradford, Putnam, Union and Part of Clay
Travis Hutson Flagler and Parts of St. Johns, Volusia

3. Review your children’s texts books and please inform me of any questionable material. I will pass that information on to the appropriate party. Contact your child’s principal have several key facts together and voice your concern that the new curriculum and assessments that will be aligned with common core may change that.

4. I would encourage members to take the above sample letter and to change the FIRST SENTENCE. Remove “ELECTED MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE” and have it read “ as our elected School Board Member” and send it to each school board member in your county.
Contact information is indicated below:

Duval County School Board Members:
• District 1 - The Honorable Cheryl Grymes| grymesc@duvalschools.org
• District 2 - The Honorable Fred "Fel" Lee | leef@duvalschools.org
• District 3 - The Honorable Ashley Smith Juarez| juareza1@duvalschools.org
• District 4 - The Honorable Paula D. Wright| wrightp@duvalschools.org
• District 5 - The Honorable Connie Hall | hallc6@duvalschools.org
• District 6 - The Honorable Becki Couch | couchr@duvalschools.org
• District 7 - The Honorable Jason Fischer | fischerj@duvalschools.org

Current Chairman & Vice-Chairman - 2012-2013:
• Chairman - The Honorable Fred "Fel" Lee
• Vice-Chairman - The Honorable Becki Couch
Board Office Staff:

Bonnie Susan Cole, Secretary & Constituent Services
coleb@duvalschools.org | 390-2293
Linda DeAbreu, Secretary
deabreul@duvalschools.org | 390-2885
Office Fax: 390-2237

Address:
Duval County School Board
1701 Prudential Drive
6th Floor | Room 642
Jacksonville, FL 32207

St. Johns County School Board members:
Beverly Slough
sloughb@stjohns.k12.fl.us
Tommy Allen
allent@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Chairman
Bill Mignon
mignonb@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Vice Chair
Bill Fehling
fehlinb@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Patrick Canan
patrick.canan@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Joseph Joyner, Ed.D
joynerj@stjohns.k12.fl.us

Clay County School Board Members

mailto:jkerekes@mail.clay.k12.fl.us
mailto:cstuddard@mail.clay.k12.fl.us
mailto:stbullock@oneclay.net
mailto:jlmckinnon@oneclay.net
mailto:lgraham@mail.clay.k12.fl.us
mailto:kbush@oneclay.net  Executive Secretary.

I realize that this contains a lot of information and a request to contact may people but with that said there may be no greater fight that the one for our children for they are the future of America.

Thank you for your attention to this action item.. We know they work so please take the time to have your voices heard.

May God Bless You and May God Bless Our America

Leanne