According to the directive of the education committees of the Idaho Senate and House, members of subcommittees charged with rewriting our education standards, were to include parents throughout the state, retired teachers who taught using Common Core, and administrators who show different perspectives. That is not what happened.

Instead, the Idaho State Dept. of Education (SDE) chose many college professors, instructional coaches, few retired teachers, and even fewer parents with no parents on any K-2nd grade committees. Even more alarming, SDE recently appointed staff members from Region 17 (Education Northwest) to oversee and coordinate these committees, and these staff members so far are encouraging editing but not replacing the Common Core Standards. Region 17 is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Three of Region 17’s four staff members overseeing the rewriting committees are from states other than Idaho. On Region 17’s Website is their pledge to Black Lives Matter and a promise that "education is on the frontlines of this effort."

We must demand that the Interim Committee follow the state directive to replace the failing Common Core standards and its SBAC (ISAT) testing and not leave it in the hands of SDE, who got us into Common Core in the first place.