January 15, 2007

Idaho Eagle Forum urges a NO vote on the 2007 Administrative Rules changes proposed by the Idaho State Board of Education.  

In general, the proposed changes are a significant step towards nationalization of the public schools through the implementation of federal “standards” for accountability (reporting) to the federal government.  By definition, the setting of a standard is the imposition of the federal will on the school districts, teachers, parents and students of Idaho.  Federal standards are antithetical to local control.  If the federal standards were improving the quality of education, they might be worth considering.  Rather, the federal standards are degrading education and they are imposing administrative costs for procedure to facilitate data collection and reporting to the federal government.  

Candidly, Idaho Eagle Forum has known for a number of years that the Federal Department of Education through various organizations filtering down through the Idaho State Board of Education has been nationalizing the schools to implement an international, globalist agenda that includes lowering the quality of education to the least common denominator for uniformity and adjusted for equality of outcome. 

Stated bluntly, we are like the family that has a kindly old uncle who is a child molester.  We pretend not to see it because to see it means we will have to do something about it.  And the doing something about it is going to be very unpleasant.   However, we are nearing the bottom of the heap with the “dumbing down” of our education system as the federal mandates move us closer to an almost entirely work-focused, vocational training system and a socialist indoctrination for the “global village”. 

Idaho State Constitution
Article IX, Section 1

SECTION 1.  LEGISLATURE TO ESTABLISH SYSTEM OF FREE SCHOOLS. The stability of a republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislature of Idaho, to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.

We can no longer play this game of ‘Hide and Seek’ with the Idaho State Board of Education.  The Idaho State Legislature needs to step up to the plate, acknowledge that we’ve taken a wrong direction and begin the process of reclaiming our education system so that it meets the mandate of the Idaho State Constitution and serves the interests of Idaho’s children now and into the future. 
 

Summary of Objections

Reasons for rejecting the proposed rule changes are as follows:

Docket 08-0202-0602 Professional Standards for Certification

The No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB) mandates “Highly Qualified” teachers.  The term “Highly Qualified” is a nebulous term, which is a polite way of saying it is deceptive marketing.  The proposed changes eliminate specific educational requirements - replacing them with subjective criteria based on evaluation of job and life experience such as those found on a resume.  While it is desirable to be able to hire a private sector scientist to teach, that situation is the exception rather than the rule.  Since it makes no sense to change the requirements for the exceptions, this change must be viewed as symptomatic of a shift away from academic learning towards vocational training and it is on that basis that this rule should be judged. 

Docket 08-0203-0602 Thoroughness, Content Standards for Gifted and Talented Programs

A federal mandate under NCLB is to align course content with federal standards and to have an outside source provide the evaluation (audit) of the alignment.  The Idaho State Board of Education chose a company named HUMRRO to do that evaluation.  HUMRRO is a Human Resources Research Organization.  The selection of HUMRRO to do this evaluation is symptomatic of a shift away from academic learning towards vocational training.  The HUMRRO evaluation was to ensure that “workplace skills” are embedded into the curriculum and that they correspond to the federal “accountability standards”.  The purpose is to ensure uniformity in assessments of “workplace skills” for data collection and reporting. 

This rule change also specifies that content standards will no longer be published in the text of the rules allegedly to save money.  The content standards will be incorporated by reference in a publication titled “Idaho Content Standards”.   Since it is in the content standards that the extent to which the “transformation” to a system of vocational training can be known, Idaho Eagle Forum attempted to find the standards, to print them out for a review.  It was discovered that the standards matrices were formatted for an 11 x 17 inch printed page.  The selection of this non-standard page size was not a “dufus” mistake.  It is technological trickery.    Even among the largest corporations, a printer capable of printing that page size is a rarity and is reserved only for the corporate print shop.  This is an obvious attempt by the Idaho State Board of Education to make review of the content standards virtually impossible.  It should serve as an alarm bell for the Idaho State Legislators as to the Board’s intent. 

Docket 08-0203-0604 At Risk Youth

This rule change adds “limited English proficiency and NOT being in a program more than three (3) years as a criteria for qualification as an “At Risk Youth”.  Federal education programs mandate many special and costly services for “At Risk Youth”.  Let’s be real here.  Clearly, this rule is intended to force the citizens of Idaho to provide special services to non-English speaking children, the majority of which are the children of illegal aliens since they are the fastest growing subgroup in Idaho due to the federal government’s failure to protect our borders.   Arguments against this can be made on many levels so suffice it to say that it is unfair to expect Idaho taxpayers to accommodate foreign nationals when the federal government is not doing their part to limit the necessity for the programs.   Succinctly, they are increasing the population of “At Risk” students through their failure to protect the borders.  If Idaho Legislators acquiesce to this mandate, they are aiding and abetting in the breakdown of U.S. national sovereignty and the violation of Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that mandates the enforcement of laws and the repeling of invasion. 

Docket 08-0203-0605 Thoroughness, “Preparation for the Workforce”

The proposed rule changes state specifically that they are intended to prepare students for the workforce and for post secondary professional, technical education.  There is no mandate in the Idaho State Constitution to prepare students for the workforce.  Refer to Article IX, Section 1 of the Idaho State Constitution pertaining to the purpose of education in Idaho. 

This section has many numerous discrepancies of language that provide the opportunity for the mischief of definition after the fact.  For example, in some places they say Advanced Opportunity’ and other places they say “Advanced Learning Opportunity”.  Given that the underlying objective is to turn the schools into vocational training centers, there could be a definitional difference between the two similar phrases - one having to do with school, one having to do with vocational internship. 

A similar discrepancy occurs in the specification of additional math classes.  Ref. pg 98 “Algebra 1 or courses that meet Algebra I standards as approved by the State Dept. of Ed; same problem with the Geometry specification.  

Docket 08-0203-0606, Thoroughness, Revised English Language Development Standards

This rule is for an unspecified increase in spending at the school district level to meet the federal mandated standards for non-English speaking students.  Refer to the commentary above on Docket 08-0203-0604 because it applies to this rule as well. 

Docket 08-0401-0601, The Idaho Digital Learning Academy

Pg. 111, Section 010.01 specifies:

“…. statewide capabilities for delivering accredited courses to Idaho resident students in grades seven (7) through twelve (12) at no cost to the student unless the student enrolls in additional courses beyond full-time enrollment.”