A bill to eliminate the mandatory SBAC test (central to the Common Core education program) never got a public hearing. You can thank Representative Reed DeMordaunt who was sent along with our other 104 legislators a petition from 35 Idaho organizations representing over 20,000 voters requesting a hearing on the SBAC test and Common Core.This resolution and letter requesting a hearing was sent by e-mail and delivered by the publisher of this newsletter to the personal mail boxes of each Senator and member of the House of Representatives. We received only two responses back by e-mail and no responses from the personal letter. This should give you an idea about how much our legislators care about how the voters feel in our state. They just plain don’t care. The only thing they care about is the lobbyists who buy them lunch and dinner and contribute to their campaigns so they can be reelected to do nothing for the people of Idaho for another two years. When will this madness stop?
Representative DeMordaunt, Chairman of the House Education Committee, refused to hold hearings on either matter. When one man can say no to a simple request from 20,000 people to have a simple hearing on such an important subject as our children’s education, it is time to remove this person from a position of power.
I, along with a Director of Idahoans for Local Education, even set up a personal meeting with Representative DeMordaunt. He gave us 15 minutes of his time and claimed he never received the resolution, but would still not have allowed for a hearing. That was surprising considering the national and statewide support for addressing this issue. We reminded Rep. DeMordaunt that the Republican National Committee and the Idaho Central Committee had both come out against the SBAC test and Common Core. We also made him aware that the very liberal Washington State Democratic Party Committee voted on a resolution that condemns the Common Core Standards. He shook his head and didn’t seem to know any of these things.
Normally this would have surprised us, but after finding out that he is the Chairman of the Albertson Foundation Teachers Compensation Committee everything became clear. You see The Albertson’s Foundation is a very strong proponent of Common Core in Idaho and contributes a lot of Foundation money to this cause. In any case it appears that Mr. DeMordaunt is more loyal to the Albertson’s Foundation than he is to the people who elected him to office. We should all think carefully before checking off the box next to Representative DeMordaunt’s name in the next election. Once again we find that our legislators are influenced more by special interest groups who will support them with campaign contributions than the people they are supposed to represent.
Will someone please run against this RINO in the next election.
