A press release from Congressman Randy Hultgren:

As Illinois’ Common Core Testing Begins, Hultgren Calls Out Department of Education on Assessment Funding

Hultgren Sends Letter Urging House Appropriators to Restore State Decision-Making on Academic Standards

 Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Randy Hultgren (IL-14) today called out the U.S. Department of Education for circumventing funding rules in order to prop up the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) education assessments that test Common Core State Standards in math and English language arts.

Fewer than 15 states, including Illinois, are now a part of PARCC—below the threshold at which federal funding should have been removed for the testing consortium.

Rep. Hultgren also sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging them to withhold funding for any actions by Department of Education to influence decisions by states over academic standards.

Randy Hultgren

“What originally began as a state-led initiative in academic standards has been taken over by a federal government bent on exerting its control over the education decisions made by parents, teachers and local school districts over how and what they will teach their students,” said Rep. Hultgren.

“And while state after state has pulled out of the questionable PARCC assessments that test the Common Core, the Department of Education has somehow found the funding to prop up its increasingly unpopular nationalized education agenda.

“States and local school districts in Illinois and nationwide should be able to decide which standards they want to use to test the progress of their students, but rushing into a national program always brings unintended consequences and federal strings attached.

“Since I first heard about the use of assessments as a backdoor into forcing Common Core on states, I have urged caution to Illinois as it moves ahead.

“It’s a sad state of affairs that students and parents are left with no option other than to opt out because the White House isn’t listening to their concerns.”

The McHenry County College auditorium was not packed, but there was a good crowd for Congressman Randy Hultgren’s session on Common Core.

Rep. Hultgren has brought the community together and raised questions surrounding the prudence of Common Core implementation in Illinois:

• He launched a fact-finding mission in 2013 to determine whether or not Common Core is right for Illinois. He convened leaders from all sides of the issue at a Community Leadership Forum on Common Core at McHenry County College.
• He raised the alarm about the Common Core’s attack on local control of education in a piece for the Northwest Herald.
• He cosponsored legislation, H. Res. 476, whichcondemns coercion by the federal government to force or lure states into adopting the Common Core education standards.
• In a Science, Space and Technology Committee hearinghe pressed Director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on the coercion by the Administration to force states into adopting the Common Core.
• He brought parents, educators and local education leaders together after the St. Charles school board passed a resolution cautioning state lawmakers against any further implementation of the Common Core State Standards or tests associated with those standards, such as the PARCC assessments.

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And I would add, Congressman Hultgren sponsored a session on Common Core at McHenry County College last summer. You can read the article here.