Issue Position: Education - Common Core

Issue Position

I do not oppose implementing education metrics and standards. However, I do oppose taking control of education away from local school boards. Common Core may have good intentions, but there is no evidence that it will improve student outcomes. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary. If it is a great system, people will want it without being forced into it.

I also oppose any legislation that limits parents' education choices for their children. There are many success stories in education because of competition from charter schools and online educational programs. In most cases, Common Core requires students in all schools, public and private, to meet the new standards, regardless of the school's performance today.

In schools where students are successful with their current curriculum, what possible benefit could there be to imposing this new, completely unproven system on them instead?

New Orleans, where I went to college, has been a great example of what can happen to education when government gets out of the way. Hurricane Katrina destroyed many neighborhoods, and schools. With little infrastructure left in place, residents started new private and charter schools. Those that were successful attracted students, who were often able to bring their tax dollars with them, in the form of vouchers.

The free market works, when it is allowed to. Rather than learning a lesson from Louisiana, Florida is reducing the choices parents have for their children. There is no more fundamental right than being free to raise our children as we wish.

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