WHEREAS, according to article I, section 1 of the Constitution of Missouri, “all government of right originates from the people . . . and is instituted solely for the good of the whole”; and

WHEREAS, article I, section 3 of the Constitution of Missouri guarantees that “the people of this state have the inherent, sole and exclusive right to regulate the internal government and police thereof . . .”; and

WHEREAS, the National Association of State Boards of Education’s 2010 Form 990 confirms, “. . . IN 2009 THE COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS AND THE NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ACHIEVE, ACT AND THE COLLEGE BOARD LAUNCHED THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INITIATIVE, . . . ADOPTION OF THE STANDARDS IS VOLUNTARY BUT SHOULD A STATE CHOSE [sic] TO ADOPT, THEY MUST ADOPT 100% OF THE COMMON CORE K-12 STANDARDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS AND MATHEMATICS AND BEGIN ASSESSMENTS ON THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS WITHIN THREE YEARS . . . NASBE IS AN EQUAL PARTNER WITH THE COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS AND THE NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION ON THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS INITIATIVE . . .

WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics are copyrighted to private non-governmental organizations known as the National Governors Association/Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Next Generation Science Standards are copyrighted to the private non-governmental organization known as ACHIEVE and that Missouri incorporates copyrighted standards in English language arts and mathematics free of charge as per a public license granted by the copyright holders; and

WHEREAS, the Missouri State Board of Education adopted the copyrighted Common Core State Standards at its June 15, 2010 meeting, implicitly agreeing to the terms of the limitation on liability, absolving the copyright holders from any liability of negligence or risk to the children and families of Missouri; and

WHEREAS, the aforementioned copyrights can be sold without consulting the states, and licenses can be used to extract licensing payments from states at a future point in time, making the citizens of Missouri vulnerable to the business transactions of private corporations or entities having no accountability to the public; and

WHEREAS, the intent of HB 1490 is the re-establishment of accountability for education standards to the citizens of Missouri through the elimination of copyrighted standards from Missouri Learning Standards which include Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards and the development of Missouri academic learning standards in public domain; and

WHEREAS, as per Missouri’s March 31, 2015 ESEA Flexibility Request, student scores on tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics will be used to evaluate teachers in Missouri using a Value Added Model, despite the rejection of this same model by 76% of Missouri voters on Amendment 3 in August of 2014[1]; and

WHEREAS, as per a memorandum from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium dated September 11, 2014 confirms that the Smarter Balanced Assessments in English language arts and mathematics incorporated into the spring 2015 statewide assessments do not meet the stipulations of federal law or nationally recognized professional and technical standards;

WHEREAS, Missouri students are made vulnerable to identity theft when required to complete online responses to tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics associated with personally identifiable information, and students are required to take such tests without parental consent to the liabilities of data breaches known to occur in online and digital environments, and despite affirmation of the constitutional protection of electronic data privacy by 75% of Missouri voters on Amendment 9, the Missouri Electronic Data Protection Act of 2014[2];

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we the undersigned hereby petition the State Board of Education and Commissioner of Education to

· direct the academic standards workgroups to develop Missouri academic learning standards in public domain; and

· withdraw the ESEA Flexibility Request from the U.S. Department of Education; and

· cease administration of Smarter Balanced Assessments in Missouri schools

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all K-12 school superintendents shall provide information about data security liabilities and consent forms to parents of Missouri K-12 students taking online assessments in spring 2015.

Signatures