On Kentucky's Common Math, English, and Science Core Standards

In Kentucky, we have common Math, English, and Science core standards, which were passed by Terry Holiday in 2010, the Chief of the Kentucky's State's Education Board, after Kentucky's General Assembly, including James Comer Jr, voted for something similar in April 2009. Science standards were eventually implemented in 2013. Kentucky's General Assembly, Frankfort, Ky's state legislature, passed Senate Bill 1 in April 2009 which gave Terry Holliday license to impose Kentucky's Common Math, English, and Science Core into the curriculum of Kentucky schools in February 2010.

Kentucky was the first state to adopt some type of Common Core standards out of the fifty nifty United States, and that's something we should be proud of. The Bluegrass's common M, E, and S core piggybacked off of Kentucky's 1990 KERA.

In 2009, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1, signed by Governor Steve Beshear. This legislation mandated new academic standards focusing on the “critical knowledge, skills, and capacities needed for success in the global economy”. Kentucky's 2009 Senate Bill 1 mandated that every Kentucky student who attends free public government welfare universal education school be prepared for higher education or a career.

The Senate Bill 1 steering committee supported collaboration with the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), then led by former Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit, in the Common Core Standards project. Terry Holliday also served as the president of the board of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), one of the private nonprofits that developed and owns the copyright to the Common Core Standards.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ACT, Inc., and College Board all helped to design Common Core.

Terry Holliday also pushed Arne Duncan back, and was able to postpone getting Kentucky some Science standards until 2013.

So now, Kentucky has it's own Bluegrass common English, Math, and Science core standards, but not Social Studies, or Spanish, or any other requirement, at least not yet, at least not mandated by the State.

Kentucky doesn't have Obama's common core standards. We have Terry Holliday's, Steve Beshear's, NGA's, CCSSO's, James Comer's, and Frankfort's 2009 General Assembly's common core standards. Our standards aren't the federal government's making. It's of our own State Government's making.

Kentucky has Bluegrass common core standards, and so far, we've made Math, English, and Science our core standards.

And it's up to local School Boards to implement whatever new Math, Science, English, and Social Studies standards they want to implement. This isn't centralized bureaucratic control... unless you consider School Boards bureaucrats, which would be wrong, since they're elected officials in all 120 counties in Kentucky.

From Fulton County to Pike County, from Calloway to Boone County, there's school boards in every county, raising your taxes every year whenever they feel like it. Usually it's about a quarter increase on your property taxes.

[the governor]

Let's see what Matt Bevin, Will T. Scott, James Comer, and Hal Heiner have to say about the Math English and Science standards in Kentucky.

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[clips]

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Barack Obama had nothing to do with Kentucky's common Math, English, and Science standards. You shouldn't afraid of Black people anyways.

There's no federal legislation to overturn when you're talking about the repeal of Common Core. I have to question whether or not these Republican candidates even understand how government works.

Kentucky was the first in the United States to adopt our own State's common core, as did 45 other states, who also adopted some type of common core for themselves. Kentucky was the first state in the nation to adopt Common Core, and we got a bunch of great publicity for that.

It was one time Kentucky surpassed her negative stereotypes, and didn't act like a total backwards illiterate non-voting dumbass.

Kentucky has had many notable achievements, where we were first in the nation, and Kentucky should be proud of these notable achievements:

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While we were the 15^th State to join the United States of America (even though we considered joining the Spanish Empire so we'd get control of the Ohio River), Kentucky was the first state to join the Union west of Appalachian mountains on June 1, 1792. The 14^th state was Vermont.

Louisville, Kentucky was the first place in America that used the secret “Australian” ballot in 1888.

Kentucky was the first Southern state to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1966. Martin Luther King Jr actually marched on Frankfort for the 1966 Civil Rights Act, of which, Rand Paul is against. 1966 is when Kentucky decided to integrate. That's fantastic. That's a great legacy.

Kentucky was the 1^st State to overhaul and modernize, so to speak, their Judicial Branch, in 1975. The entire section of Kentucky's Constitution in regards to the Judicial Branch was completely gutted out, and replaced with this 1975 Amendment.

Also in 1975, Kentucky finally ratified the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments, the so-called Civil War amendments, which gives Black folks citizenship, and the right to vote.

Kentucky was #1 in the nation with the standards-based movement with 1990's KERA, the Kentucky Educational Reform Act. KERA was sweeping in it's changes in Kentucky's educational system, including the inclusion of SBDM's, and it's SEEK formula, which sought to make sure all public schools in Kentucky received the same tax dollars per capita, no matter if they were raised in a rich or poor district.

1997. The Kentucky General Assembly completely revamped higher education in the commonwealth with the passage of the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, House Bill 1. HB1 mandated that the University of Kentucky and UofL become a Top Public Research University by the year 2020. This 1997 law also created several new entities: Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), Kentucky Virtual Campus (KYVC), Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL), Kentucky Virtual Schools (KYVS).

In 1998, the Ford Foundation and Harvard University gave Kentucky the “Innovation in American Government Award”.

Kentucky was the 1^st State to pass Kentucky's Common Math and English Core in 2009/2010.

In October 2013, Kentucky was the 1^st State to implement ObamaCare by way of the State's own private insurance portal website, Kynect.com. 640,000 Kentuckians have signed up for ObamaCare so far, and most of them were teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Also in 2013, Kentucky was the first state in the US to begin hemp production.

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Kentucky, let's smash this culture of ignorance bullshit, and start being proud of good progressive world class measures.

Another, MAJOR victory for Kentuckians was when we won the Civil War. Kentucky... we won the Civil War!!! Talk about siding with losers.

The election of the long shot 3^rd party candidate Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky born and raised man, severed the nation in half, after many Southern states seceded out of the United States club in 1860 because the 1% elite, 10,000 slave owners, wanted to keep their slaves, a peculiar institution that most of our Founder Fathers engaged in.

Kentucky chose to fight for Lincoln, for the United States of America, against the Confederacy, against slavery, and we were right in doing so.

100,000 Kentuckians fought for the Union, compared to 25,000 white supremacist racists who fought for the Confederacy, for the 10,000 slave owning aristocratic plutocratic 1% owner banker class. 100,000 Kentuckians fought for the Union. In fact, there were the same amount of African-American troops fighting for the Union in Kentucky, 25,000, as there were fighting in the Confederacy, also 25,000. Most Kentuckians, esp German immigrants, like William Justus Goebel's father, fought for the United States, to remain in the Union of States of America, especially after the Confederacy broke our neutrality by invading Kentucky territory, and Kentucky won! The United States of America won! Kentucky won the Civil War! South Carolina lost. So good for Kentucky for making the right decision in 1861.

I mean, my God... the Confederates were the original terrorists. And not surprisingly, the ex-confederates then became the KKK, and the KKK dressed in white bedsheets in order to be perceived as the dead Confederate ghosts coming back to life. Racism... slavery... terrorism... treason to the United States of America, these are horrible legacies for anybody in 2015 to carry on.

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The federal government's Common Core standards, is world class standards, it was designed by many States, pushed by the States in order for America to competitive with the world's educational attainment, since we're no longer #1 anymore. We're like #50.

I grew upon KERA. I remember everybody complaining about it, especially the teachers, which is ironic, because the teachers were even threatening to strike over them being tested... What a bunch of hypocrites!

Teachers hated to be tested even more than the students do, but teachers should be tested on their performance.

Well lil Billy and lil Sally can't read, but who gives a fuck? Here's $55,000 for 8 months of wasting everybody's time. Gtfo here.

Our kids need to be able to read, to know math, to understand civics, and democratic institutions.

If you aren't teaching anybody, you should be fired. Immediately. Teaching is your job and if you fail to teach anybody, you should be fired.

The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 aka KERA was a complete overhaul of Kentucky's public educational system.

KERA implemented the SEEK formula so that the poorest schools would get the same amount of tax dollars that the richest schools got, on a per student basis. That's revolutionary. Poor schools aren't getting the same tax dollars, but at least it was mandated that way. It's the law. There's no reason why Barbourville, which receives about $9K of taxpayer dollars per student, should be getting half the tax dollars compared to Anchorage, who get about $18K per student.

In 1990, Kentucky districts only received $2,305 per student on average.

A Sudbury Model of Education, which is a dream true blue freedom and democracy school, costs less than $5K. Vouchers would have our schools democratic and civic minded in no time. They can't treat us like just bricks in the wall anymore. Vouchers also give parents and students more choices when it comes to their own education. Education is supposed to be for the students and parents, but so far, it's been for the administrators.

By sending my child to a Sudbury School, a true blue freedom and democracy school, who cares about strengthening my children, making them smart and capable, who liberates them, doesn't oppress them with out-dated factory education, with archaic Industrial Nazi Prussian models for education, I would save Kentucky taxpayers 50% in education costs, while also giving them a better education.

In fact, all Kentucky's schools should be based on the Sudbury Valley Model School. There's no reason why a school can't be fun and empowering at the same time.

The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 also gave Kentucky SBDMs, Site-Based Decision Making councils, which gave parents power to choose Kentucky's curriculum in the 1990s. SBDM's have to select 3 teachers, 1 administrator, and at least 2 parents, to decide the curriculum of their local school. SBDM's are one lever that gave some power to the parents. Not much, since it's 2 parents and 4 school officials, but it is a democratizing force, so naturally tyrannical Superintendents would hate them.

The primary responsibility of SBDM's are:

1- Hiring to fill vacancies in all school staff positions including teachers and principals

2- Choosing textbooks instructional materials, and student support services available at the school

3- Reviewing CATS testing results and determining steps to ensure student improvement

4- Assessing school improvement plans mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

In an effort to decentralize authority within the school system, KERA delegated much of the curriculum decision making to the School Based Decision Making Councils. Under KERA, these councils determine what is taught, the text used in classrooms, the extracurricular activities that will be offered at the school and to a large extent those who will be teaching.

KERA also introduced computers into the classroom. Generation Y and the Millenial Generations are smarter than Generation X, and their lazy and heavily entitled Social Security-lov'n baby boomer parents. Kentucky's youth, and young adults, are more technologically astute, and therefore, they are more evolved. The Kentucky old are pea-brained dinosaurs, who can't even read, clinging onto ancient Bronze age Dark ages tradition, and the Kentucky youth are Einsteins, absolute geniuses, 100s of times smarter than their parents, ready waiting for a Kentucky enlightenment.

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by TS Eliot documents very well how scared the old are that the young will one day replace them. That's one of the biggest fears of the old. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/173476 But it shouldn't be. The old should be helping us figure out new jobs and industries, because if they don't, then they should be replaced.

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Kentucky's common Math, English, and Science core isn't anything new here. Kentucky already had many of the same standards already in place, since Kentucky led the standards-based movement in 1990 with the passage of KERA. Terry Holliday's 2010 implementation of common core piggybacked off of KERA, Kentucky's Educational Reform in 1990.

Actually KERA mandated even more rigorous and higher standards than Terry Holliday's 2010 come Bluegrass M E and S core.

Here's some of KERA standards in 1991:

*use basic communication and mathematics skills for purposes and situations they will encounter throughout their lives.

*develop their abilities to apply core concepts and principles from mathematics, sciences, arts, humanities, social studies, practical living studies, and vocational studies to what they will encounter throughout their lives.

*develop their abilities to become self-sufficient individuals.

*develop their abilities to become responsible members of a family, work group, and community, including demonstrating effectiveness in community service.

*develop their abilities to think and solve problems in school situations and in a variety of situations they will encounter in life.

*develop their abilities to connect and integrate experiences and new knowledge from all subject matter fields with what they have previously learned and build on past learning experiences to acquire new information through various media services.

45 States have agreed to implement some type of Common Core. Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Alaska, Washington, California... these are states with great educational systems. The states who opted out of doing any kind of Common Core was Louisiana, home of Bobby Jindal, who also opted out of ObamaCare, and therefore, every single preventable death that happens in Louisiana, Bobby Jindal should be held personally liable for, and Oklahoma.

Let's do what Washington and Minnesota is doing, not what Oklahoma is doing.

Oklahoma, home of the Pirate political Party, has had thousands of earthquakes because of their addiction to fracking... fracking, which is coal's biggest competitor.

Oklahoma's legislature this year tried to make yoga pants illegal, because, evidently, yoga pants gives Oklahoma's legislators the urge to rape.

But hell, Kentuckians should know that feeling: we've been getting raped for years.

Louisville and Grant County Jailers literally rape their inmates, even innocents falsely beat up by crooked cops, and those in there for victimless crimes, or for some misdemeanor, or traffic violation. That's one hell of a punishment for speeding. The speedster hurt nobody, but the public official raped another person.

Am I the only one that believes rape, murder, stealing, and violence are the 4 huge evils, wickedness that deserves punishment, that peaceful civilized societies should stop?

And the Louisville and Grant County rapist Jailers are the only few ones that have been made public, but there's no telling how much more rapist Jailers Kentuckians empower with their tax dollars.

But let's look at our electricity prices, the raping that King Coal has given us.

Right now...

My electricity is 10 cents. I get my electricity from Meade County RECC.

Will T. Scott at the energy forum in Lexington said that coal companies are selling their electric rates at 3 cents per kilowatt hour.

Mine is 10 cents per kilowatt hour... Pennsylvania Power and Light, owned by William H Spence, the company that owns Kentucky Utilities, buy our electric at 3 cents per kilowatt hour at wholesale costs, and then turns it around, and sells us our own coal at 10 cents per kilowatt hour... that's more than a 200% markup. You're electric bill, if we cut out the middle man, cut out the coal company operators, and transnational corporations, and just provide electricity generated by burning coal to ourselves, and we'd see our electric bills cut in 1/3^rd. I've had $500 electric bills, for just this little trailer here... that's more than my monthly mortgage, and what choice did I have? I had to live through the winter... though the Nauglers were able to give birth in -30 degree weather during this last winter, which is quite impressive, and living off the grid, they didn't have to pay for any electric costs... how did they stay warm out there?

We're supposed to be huge on coal, but so far, thousands of coal miners have lost their jobs. The EPA hasn't imposed any of the standards. Kentucky's has fought those regulations off... so why are we still losing coal miner jobs? What can possibly stem this arsenic-laden coal ash pond from bursting all over the trailer parks lined along the creeks and rivers?

We should nationalize coal. Kentucky is a Commonwealth, and all the raw materials of this state, most esp in National Parks, belong to us, we the Kentucky people. We should nationalize coal, and keep our own coal, instead of thinking some Pennsylvanian CEO, who is trying to maximize his profits for his investors, cares about our interests. King Coal don't care about us. Most Eastern Kentuckians do not have running water but they do have a Coal Severance Tax, and the history on that should be studied, because that's amazing that Eastern Kentucky ever got to the coal companies to do a single fk'n thing for them.