I read the following lead and thought I'd have a bone to throw Rep. Jim Bolin and the anti-Common Core lobby:
The board of the state's largest teachers' union voted unanimously Saturday to denounce the controversial Common Core standards and call for the removal of New York education commissioner John King [Jessica Bakeman, "Teachers' Union Bails on King and Common Core," Capital New York, 2014.01.26].
A teacher's union from New York offering Tea-flavored protesters support that they can't get from their own South Dakota teacher's union, which thinks Common Core is hunky-dory? How tantalizing! How exciting!
How about I read to the end of the article to get the full story?
New York State United Teachers don't really have a beef with Common Core. They have a beef with the state education commissioner's obstinate management of Common Core implementation. They want more money to pay for teacher training on Common Core and improvements in distributing test results. They want to wait three years before tying Common Core student test results to teacher evaluations.
But the New York teachers' union still wants "to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to achieve the Common Core standards." NYSUT wants more time "to correctly implement Common Core." They aren't denouncing Common Core. They are denouncing specific policies that get in the way of Common Core.
Sorry, Jim! Remind your supporters at the Capitol Wednesday not to lobby legislators with the argument that New York teachers have turned on Common Core.