Clarity on standards needed before levy

Weeks after LPOSD’s levy passed last March, Superintendent Shawn Woodward wrote in a Daily Bee letter that levy funds will be used to gear up for the new Common Core standards so that they can be taught in the 2013-14 school year. In fact, the “transition” began in the 2012-13 school year.

This came as a surprise to many who had not heard of Common Core or levy funds being used for it. What is Common Core? It is a bureaucratic, top-down, mass-learning initiative, heavily influenced by special interests, and largely a product of the 2009 stimulus plan Democrats passed in Congress. It radically changes the way English and math are taught in public schools, and intrusively tracks students’ personal data.

In a subsequent radio interview, Woodward claimed that he mentioned Common Core in 95 percent of the district’s levy presentations, and that the district wouldn’t be tracking students because it “doesn’t have the technology.”

In the four levy presentations friends and I attended, the words “Common Core” were not mentioned. Nor did they appear in the multi-page LPOSD levy handout or in the March 3 interview with Woodward which spanned nearly two full pages of the Bee.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, Woodward revealed that $272,000 in levy, state and federal funds have been spent or budgeted for Common Core, and that “most of the work we do is tied to those standards”. Translation: costs are higher than indicated.

Clarity before the levy vote would have been appreciated.

ANITA PERRY

Sandpoint