Waxhaw's schools to be federalized

But not until 2012 so I gues there's still time to turn this around. The article:

Raleigh, N.C. — The state Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved new universal standards for reading and math classes in public schools, becoming the fifth state in the nation to do so.

North Carolina is part of a 48-state consortium that is working toward developing and adopting the "Common Core" standards for grades K-12 to help improve analytical thinking.

The nationwide goal is to build a stronger education system, where students, regardless of where they live, receive the same quality of education.

I can't for the life of me cannot see how this is good for the students of North Carolina. If the worry is that NC education standards are not high enough to meet whatever national standards are developed by the educational bureaucrats of the consortium, then North Carolina should just make their own standards better than the national standards.

Heck, they can even use very same standards without binding themselves to this program. In the latter case, of course, they wouldn't get the federal funding involved, and therein lies the rub. The powers that be in NC want the federal funds.

And while the current standards only apply to mathematics and English, the State Board of Education Chairman conveniently informs us they plan to adopt even more national standards. Hooray! How soon until health, history, and social studies are added to the mix?

State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison said that the state plans to adopt more national standards within the next two years.

Under the changes, which will take effect in 2012, he said parents and students would see more "rigorous" testing standards, as well as an "authentic" way of learning, with a curriculum that deals with real-world problems.

Too bad he didn't clarify the more "authentic" way of learning Waxhaw's children will get to participate in because it sounds curiously like meaningless fluff to me.

Given the state government's inability to control their spending, this clearly is one way Bev Perdue and the state government are able to get additional federal funding. I've been unable to find any information on exactly how much federal funding is involved, but if I can ever get my hands on that info, I'll share.

For more information, here's the Common Core website. Given their investment in these standards being adopted by more than just the five states who've currently opted in, I'd recommend taking what you read here with a grain of salt.

For example, I learned here that the federal government has nothing to do with the implementation of this program. A couple lines below, they include the following, which I would argue directly contradicts that claim.

However, the federal government will have the opportunity to support states as they begin adopting the standards. For example, the federal government can

• Support this effort through a range of tiered incentives, such as providing states with greater flexibility in the use of existing federal funds, supporting a revised state accountability structure, and offering financial support for states to implement the standards.
• Provide long-term financial support for the development and implementation of common assessments, teacher and principal professional development, and research to help continually improve the common core state standards over time.

What are the odds that this program would've been implemented here if we weren't going to be on the receiving end of additional federal dollars? Slim to none methinks.

The federal government is essentially bribing cash-strapped states into joining a program that I suspect will be very difficult to extricate ourselves from once we've spent the money. And unfortunately, I imagine the money's already been spent.