A lawsuit was filed June 25, 2014. The lawsuit can be found on this Scribd account: Pack v. State of Oklahoma
Some opponents, including the National Association for State Boards of Education, have also questioned the bill’s constitutionality. In a May 27, 2014, letter to the governor, an attorney for the NASBE references a provision in the Oklahoma Constitution that creates the State Board of Education and grants it authority over the “supervision of instruction in the public schools.” Opponents argue that HB3399 seeks to give to the Legislature the responsibility reserved by the constitution to the Board of Education. What they have done is carve out a strategic and misleading sentence fragment from our state constitution for political reasons, not legitimate legal concerns.
There are several problems with this group's argument. Opponents omitted the part of the sentence that states the Board’s “powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.” That’s precisely what HB3399 does. Further, the state constitution gives the Legislature the responsibility to “establish and maintain a system of free public schools.” The Legislature will continue to play its role in “establishing” the standards for the “system” and the Board will continue to supervise the implementation of the standards. In fact, the state board will still be responsible for the development of the new standards with participation by higher education, our career technology system and the Department of Commerce with a provision for legislative review and action with approval from the governor.
Secondly, no one complained in 2010 when the State Board of Education was directed to adopt Common Core. No one raised this concern when individuals and organizations outside of the state, not controlled by the State Board of Education, wrote the Common Core standards. If that wasn’t unconstitutional, then this bill is certainly not unconstitutional.
If we will not stand up and protect state and local control of our education system now, when will we? It will only be more difficult in the future but we can stand up now and begin the process of developing academic standards that exceed all previous standards. To not do so for political reasons would be to shirk our responsibility and to fail students.
Original Title
National Assoc. of State School Boards March 25, 2014 Letter on HB3399
A lawsuit was filed June 25, 2014. The lawsuit can be found on this Scribd account: Pack v. State of Oklahoma
Some opponents, including the National Association for State Boards of Education, have also questioned the bill’s constitutionality. In a May 27, 2014, letter to the governor, an attorney for the NASBE references a provision in the Oklahoma Constitution that creates the State Board of Education and grants it authority over the “supervision of instruction in the public schools.” Opponents argue that HB3399 seeks to give to the Legislature the responsibility reserved by the constitution to the Board of Education. What they have done is carve out a strategic and misleading sentence fragment from our state constitution for political reasons, not legitimate legal concerns.
There are several problems with this group's argument. Opponents omitted the part of the sentence that states the Board’s “powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.” That’s precisely what HB3399 does. Further, the state constitution gives the Legislature the responsibility to “establish and maintain a system of free public schools.” The Legislature will continue to play its role in “establishing” the standards for the “system” and the Board will continue to supervise the implementation of the standards. In fact, the state board will still be responsible for the development of the new standards with participation by higher education, our career technology system and the Department of Commerce with a provision for legislative review and action with approval from the governor.
Secondly, no one complained in 2010 when the State Board of Education was directed to adopt Common Core. No one raised this concern when individuals and organizations outside of the state, not controlled by the State Board of Education, wrote the Common Core standards. If that wasn’t unconstitutional, then this bill is certainly not unconstitutional.
If we will not stand up and protect state and local control of our education system now, when will we? It will only be more difficult in the future but we can stand up now and begin the process of developing academic standards that exceed all previous standards. To not do so for political reasons would be to shirk our responsibility and to fail students.
A lawsuit was filed June 25, 2014. The lawsuit can be found on this Scribd account: Pack v. State of Oklahoma
Some opponents, including the National Association for State Boards of Education, have also questioned the bill’s constitutionality. In a May 27, 2014, letter to the governor, an attorney for the NASBE references a provision in the Oklahoma Constitution that creates the State Board of Education and grants it authority over the “supervision of instruction in the public schools.” Opponents argue that HB3399 seeks to give to the Legislature the responsibility reserved by the constitution to the Board of Education. What they have done is carve out a strategic and misleading sentence fragment from our state constitution for political reasons, not legitimate legal concerns.
There are several problems with this group's argument. Opponents omitted the part of the sentence that states the Board’s “powers and duties shall be prescribed by law.” That’s precisely what HB3399 does. Further, the state constitution gives the Legislature the responsibility to “establish and maintain a system of free public schools.” The Legislature will continue to play its role in “establishing” the standards for the “system” and the Board will continue to supervise the implementation of the standards. In fact, the state board will still be responsible for the development of the new standards with participation by higher education, our career technology system and the Department of Commerce with a provision for legislative review and action with approval from the governor.
Secondly, no one complained in 2010 when the State Board of Education was directed to adopt Common Core. No one raised this concern when individuals and organizations outside of the state, not controlled by the State Board of Education, wrote the Common Core standards. If that wasn’t unconstitutional, then this bill is certainly not unconstitutional.
If we will not stand up and protect state and local control of our education system now, when will we? It will only be more difficult in the future but we can stand up now and begin the process of developing academic standards that exceed all previous standards. To not do so for political reasons would be to shirk our responsibility and to fail students.