Good Evening Supt

Good evening Supt. ______, Pres. ______and honored School Board Members. My name is ______. I’m speaking on WHY ESSA IS BAD FOR AMERICA by Henry W. Burke, who testified before the Nebraska State Board of Education on 1.8.16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HEFL-Djlko&feature=youtu.be

“According to Emma Vadehra, Chief of Staff, at the U.S. Dept. of Education,  This bill will embed ‘college and career ready standards’ or as we know, Common Core©. They do not expect any states to get away from the standards.  It also solidifies the Department’s plans for full pre-K expansion.  It was also stated that the pre-K grants were significant in moving the ball and that states are on the hook financially as well. The DoE is giddy with excitement at the impending passage of ESSA.” http://edlibertywatch.org/2015/12/senate-passes-essa/

1. Not Sufficient Time to Read ESSA Bill The ESEA rewrite measure (ESSA or S 1177) totals 1,061 pages, but Congressmen had only two days to read it before the vote.

2. False Statements about Local Control …the people who put the ESSA bill together decided they would try to “fool” everyone by making erroneous claims, saying that the bill would give states control over the standards.

3. States Must Use Common Core Jane Robbins, senior fellow at the American Principles Project, explained clearly in an article that the ESEA/NCLB rewrite actually increases federal control instead of giving it to the states. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/08/senate-poised-pass-nclb-rewrite-alexander- murraycongratulate-bipartisanship/

 “The state plan (which includes the state standards) must be coordinated with 11 different federal statutes.”  “If the state standards must be coordinated to all these, that means the standards must be either Common Core or something like Common Core.”

4. States Must Align Standards to ESSA College Requirements Common Core “is designed to prepare students only for community college.” http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/08/senate-poised-pass-nclb-rewrite-alexander- murraycongratulate-bipartisanship/

5. ESSA Greatly Expands Preschools http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/09/sen-patty-murray-touts-more-spending-on- educationbills-federal-preschool-program/

6. ESSA Was Written Behind Closed Doors  “ESSA was written by unknown parties, working behind closed doors with no notice to the public, and was released only two days before the House vote.” http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/26/transparency-nclb-rewrite-draft-wont- finalizedtwo-days-lawmakers-vote/ 7. ESSA Banishes Local Control of Schools American Principles Project declared:  The suggestion that these rabidly pro-Common Core individuals and organizations would support a bill that truly restores state autonomy in education and unravels all they’ve worked for is nothing short of delusional.” http://thepulse2016.com/jane-robbins/2015/12/10/republican-congress-thwarts-american-people- passesobama-backed-education-bill/

8. ESSA Controls Testing, Learning Centers and Private Schools 9. ESSA Maintains Federal Testing ESSA maintains the federally dictated testing, aimed more at measuring students’ attitudes and dispositions than assessing students’ academic knowledge.

ESSA continues the federal testing mandates (Section 1005). The types of assessments dictated by the bill include subjective assessments of students’ skills and psychological attributes under the requirement to assess higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). The HOTS include the cognitive domain, the affective domain and the psychomotor domain. Because the affective domain includes attitudes, feelings, values, and motivations, the federal government will be requiring assessments that target students’ psychological profiles.

10. ESSA Establishes 21st Century Community Learning Centers  ESSA provides for Obama’s special project — 21st Century Community Learning Centers.  Schools will be expanded to replace family and church as the center of every child’s life. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/12/rhetoric-bipartisan-every-student-succeeds-act- cantmask-federal-control-education/

11. ESSA Controls Private Schools Page 186 of ESSA states:  “(A) IN GENERAL. – Educational services and other benefits for such private school children shall be equitable in comparison to services and other benefits for public school children.”

An entire section of the law, beginning on page 833, is titled “Participation by Private School Children and teachers. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/12/rhetoric-bipartisan-every-student-succeeds-act- cant

12. Comments on ESSA by Education Secretary Arne Duncan

Anti-Common Core activists tried for months to warn Congress that the new federal education bill (ESSA) was a disaster. Now it has been confirmed. This confirmation comes from someone who should know – Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

In a recent interview in “Politico Pro,” U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) Secretary Arne Duncan discussed the recently passed ESSA bill. http://thepulse2016.com/emmett-mcgroarty/2015/12/21/duncan-describes-how-republican-leaders- betrayedtheir-constituents/ 13. Secretary Arne Duncan’s Comments

 “[I]f you look at the substance of what is there . . . embedded in the law are the values that we’ve promoted and proposed forever.”  “The core of our agenda from Day One, that’s all in there – early childhood, high standards [i.e., Common Core], not turning a blind eye when things are bad.”  “For the first time in our nation’s history, that’s the letter of the law.”

CONCLUSION

Clues that the new education bill (ESSA) is bad for America include: (1) Obama readily signed the bill, (2) Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Arne Duncan supported the measure, (3) Common Core copyright owners supported ESSA, (4) U.S. Department of Education officials were very excited about passing the bill, and (5) Congressmen were given only two days to read the 1,061-page ESSA bill before voting on the measure.

 ESSA will force all states to use Common Core.  ESSA greatly expands preschools (“Baby Common Core”). Even though Head Start has been proven ineffective, ESSA will expand the program.  ESSA will destroy local control of schools and give more control to the federal government.  U.S. Department of Education officials love the ESSA law.

I respectfully request that my comments be photocopied for each board member, and I request that this document be included as an original meeting document for historic reference.

Thank you,