Christ Troupis, former candidate in 2014 for Attorney General has filed a constitutional lawsuit to remove the SBAC test, a Common Core requirement, from Idaho’s school system.
As many of you know, this year 35 conservative organizations representing over twenty five thousand Idahoans sent a resolution to all of our legislators last session requesting they hold public hearings on Common Core and the SBAC test which they totally ignored. On behalf of all conservatives in Idaho, I would like to thank Mr. Troupis from the bottom of our hearts for taking up this fight to take the federal government out of our educational system and bring back local rule to our schools. Having a champion like Christ Troupis take up this fight with his vast experience in constitutional law will certainly set the stage for discussion about Common Core in the next legislative session.
The basis for this suit lies in the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which provides: “No State shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State. Idaho’s membership in the SBAC is illegal because it has violated this clause.
Follow along with the bullet points
- Congress has declared that the Federal Government is prohibited from directing or controlling the administration of State and Local education, including curriculum and programs of instruction.
- The Department of Education side-stepped Congress’ prohibition by making eligibility for $4.3 billion in education grants conditional on a State’s agreement to adopt uniform national education standards, i.e. the Common Core.
- As a further condition to receive federal grant money, the Department required the States to create an interstate consortium to implement the Common Core Standards. That consortium was SBAC (“Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium”), created with $160,000,000 grant money from the Department of Education
- Idaho joined SBAC in 2010 in order to qualify for Race to the Top grant money.
- Idaho’s SBAC membership agreement resulted in Idaho giving up sovereignty in decisions about education policy and curriculum to the SBAC Governing Board.
- Idaho pays SBAC yearly fees from taxpayer funds for membership and for student assessment testing.
- Idaho taxpayers have standing to complaint about the illegal use of taxpayer funds by the State. Since Idaho’s membership in SBAC is unconstitutional, its payment of taxpayer funds to that entity is likewise illegal and subject to injunction by taxpayers.
This suit does not come without a cost, and Christ has already donated hundreds of hours of his time and to be sure there will be strong challenges in this court case.
PLEASE HELP WITH ANY DONATION YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW. DON’T SIT THIS FIGHT OUT, BE A PART OF IT. DONATE NOW
Click HERE to read the Executive Summary of the case
