Grassley works to stop federal interference and restore state-level education decisions

WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley is leading an effort to ask leading Senate appropriators to restore state-level decision making about academic content in public schools in response to the way federal incentives have interfered and put a heavy hand on states to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Grassley said the Common Core program was initially billed as a voluntary effort, and that current federal law makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education may not be involved in setting specific content standards or determining the content of state assessments.

“The reality is that the U.S. Department of Education has made adoption of standards matching those in Common Core a requirement for getting waivers and funds,” Grassley said.  “This violates the structure of our education system, where academic content decisions are made at the state level giving parents a direct line of accountability to those making the decisions.  The federal government should not be allowed to coerce state education decision makers.”

Grassley is inviting senators to join him in a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds education.  The letter urges appropriators to set clear restrictions on the U.S. Department of Education from setting academic content standards either directly or indirectly when they put together legislation to fund the U.S. Department of Education for the next fiscal year.

Here is the text of the letter that Grassley is inviting senators to sign by April 25.

April 26, 2013

The Honorable Tom Harkin

Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

Senate Appropriations Committee

The Honorable Jerry Moran

Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

Senate Appropriations Committee

Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Moran:

We ask that the Fiscal Year 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill include language to restore state decision-making and accountability with respect to state academic content standards. The decision about what students should be taught and when it should be taught has enormous consequences for our children. Therefore, parents ought to have a straight line of accountability to those who are making such decisions. State legislatures, which are directly accountable to the citizens of their states, are the appropriate place for those decisions to be made, free from any pressure from the U.S. Department of Education.

While the Common Core State Standards Initiative was initially billed as a voluntary effort between states, federal incentives have clouded the picture. Current federal law makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education may not be involved in setting specific content standards or determining the content of state assessments. Nevertheless, the selection criteria designed by the U.S. Department of Education for the Race to the Top Program provided that for a state to have any chance to compete for funding, it must commit to adopting a “common set of K-12 standards” matching the description of the Common Core. The U.S. Department of Education also made adoption of “college- and career-ready standards” meeting the description of the Common Core a condition to receive a state waiver under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Race to the Top funds were also used to fund two consortiums to develop assessments aligned to the Common Core and the Department is now in the process of evaluating these assessments.

We ask that you eliminate further interference by the U.S. Department of Education with respect to state decisions on academic content standards by including the following language in the Fiscal Year 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill:

Sec. __. (a) Funds appropriated under this Act or any prior Act shall not be used by the Secretary of Education—

(1) to directly develop, implement, or evaluate multi-State or other specified standards (defined in this section as any set of academic content standards common to multiple States, including the Common Core State Standards developed by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers, or any other specified set or type of academic content standards selected by the Secretary) or assessments aligned with such standards;

(2) to award any grant, contract, or cooperative agreement that requires or specifically authorizes the development, implementation, or evaluation of multi-State or other specified standards, or assessments aligned with such standards;

(3) to condition any award of funds to a State on the adoption of multi-State or other specified standards, or to include, as a component of an application for Federal funds, a requirement or preference related to multi-State or other specified standards; or

(4) to enforce any provision of a waiver issued by such Secretary under section 9401 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7861) related to the adoption of multi-State or other specified standards.

(b) Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to limit the discretion of an individual State to use funds provided through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement for any uses that are authorized under the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, if the State so chooses.

Thank you for your consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

(DES MOINES) – The office of Gov. Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today released the governor’s prepared statement from today’s media conference call.

The remarks, as prepared for delivery, were as follows:

Good evening, or should I say, good morning in Iowa. Director Durham and I are calling you from Iowa’s sister state in China, the Province of Hebei, and it is 10:15 P.M. here in China. We just finished our last full day of our trade mission and are headed back to Iowa tomorrow. Our trade mission has been extremely productive with visits to the four cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding City and Shijiazhuang, all in four days.

The focus of this trade mission has been on promoting Iowa’s global partnership with China, especially in the areas of expanded trade and direct investment in Iowa. Throughout the trip, we have had numerous business meetings with current purchasers of Iowa exports or potential business partners.

Earlier this week, I also lead a group of U.S. governors in a governors’ forum with five Chinese governors through the National Governors Association. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Governor Bob McDonnell were the participating governors from the United States.

On Monday, I also had the tremendous honor of being the first governor from the United States to meet China’s new President, Xi Jinping. Our meeting lasted over 45 minutes. President Xi spoke highly of his history with the state and the people of Iowa. He even recalled the menu from the state dinner we held on February 15, 2012, and the delicious corn, soybean, pork and beef that we ate.

We also discussed the importance of continued partnerships between the people of Iowa and the people of China. As the new leader of China, a country of over 1.3 billion people, we know that this meeting and our partnership with China will be very beneficial as we look to the future, especially in the areas of trade and economic partnership.

Lastly, we also celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the Iowa-Hebei sister state relationship. I signed the original agreement in 1983 establishing the sister state relationship between the state of Iowa and Hebei province. It was an honor to recognize this anniversary 30 years later in Hebei.

It is no secret that this sister state relationship has been very beneficial to the people of Iowa and we look forward to more success in the future with this unique partnership. And now, I would be happy to answer your questions.