PolifrogBlog

There is no free in liberty.


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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Thursday, August 28, 2014

North Carolina's Response to Common Core is A Model of Judiciousness in Crafting Law...



North Carolina repealed Common Core standards this past summer, however the standards will remain in place for the current calender year. One hopes that NC will be prepared to implement its own set of rigorous standards a year from now. But NC almost followed the Oklahoma model before settling on the current transitional compromise.

The [NC] state House voted 71-34, however, to approve a compromise measure that creates a new state commission to review educational standards and recommend the replacement of defective Common Core standards or those that are inappropriate. While an earlier state House version of the bill would have outright banned the commission from retaining any of the Common Core standards, the compromise follows the state Senate’s version, which permits the commission to choose the best standards, whether from Common Core or another set of standards.
Oklahoma's experience is enlightening. Like NC, Oklahoma also repealed Common Core standards this past summer, but the state is paying the price for treating the "voluntary" program as voluntary. The Common Core repeal bill adopted by Oklahoma required an immediate, though temporary, return to its previous PASS standards during which time it would develop its own more rigorous standards.

House Bill 3399 required all schools return to Priority Academic Student Skills Standards, also known as PASS, until new standards could be developed.
This was apparently not good enough. In government parlance voluntary means "voluntary". The result is that Oklahoma has just lost its No Child Left Behind funding.

 It appears that the NCGA deserves a nod of appreciation for its cautious moderation in crafting law ... that is if a year proves long enough for NC to generate appropriately rigorous schooling standards.




The Real Issue is That the IRS and the Justice Department Could Get Away With it ...

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Incompetent IRS emails Found! Found! Found, I Say!


PJ

Department of Justice attorneys for the Internal Revenue Service told Judicial Watch on Friday that Lois Lerner’s emails, indeed all government computer records, are backed up by the federal government in case of a government-wide catastrophe. The Obama administration attorneys said that this back-up system would be too onerous to search. The DOJ attorneys also acknowledged that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) is investigating this back-up system.

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