Republican schools superintendent nominee Joy Hofmeister today criticized the Obama Administration’s penalization of Oklahoma for its repeal of Common Core.
Here’s her statement:
“In revoking our ESEA Waiver before the current academic standards review
process could be completed by our State Board of Regents, the Obama
administration has rushed to penalize Oklahoma for the repeal of Common Core.
“This is an example of a punitive overreach by the federal government that shows
a lack of caring for our students, and I consider it an outrage to penalize
students and children simply because the Obama administration is angry that our
state has chosen to chart it’s own course on educational standards.
“This is a classic ‘Big Brother knows best’ approach.
“It is the right of a state to chart its own education standards. I have
confidence in our State’s Board of Regents and their process to review our
academic standards. It is unfortunate that the Obama administration has shown a
lack of willingness to work with Oklahoma children, their teachers and their
schools.
“I have full confidence in our teachers’ ability to navigate standards and focus
on student learning. However, the redirecting of funds away from our school
classrooms to outside supplemental providers is a terrible waste of our taxpayer
dollars. I witnessed this waste in the early years of No Child Left Behind.
Our children cannot afford to lose teachers and classroom funding due to this
required diversions of funds. It’s wrong and our children deserve better.
“I will continue my work to fight the federal over-regulation of this failed
national initiative. We must focus on what’s best for our students,” Hofmeister
said.
