There’s a battle raging across West Virginia over the tests associated with Common Core - known as the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium tests or SBAC. Interesting name for those tests. I’ve come to realize that whenever the word “smart” is inserted into something that’s in the public sphere - there’s also an agenda attached - the progressive agenda. Think “smart meters” or “smart growth” - both progressive initiatives aimed at controlling us and how we live. It begs the question, are these “smarter balance” tests fair and balanced?

That’s a loaded question. The real question being asked by parents is: “Why should my child be subjected to the SBAC tests?” The answer for many of those parents is: “they shouldn’t”. There’s a national movement to opt out of the tests - and it is picking up steam. According to USA Today, in New York State, over 150,000 public school students have opted out of taking the tests. The movement has caught on here in West Virginia.

Education Reporter Sam Speciale writing in the Charleston Daily Mail starts his April 19th article by saying, “Pushback from school officials after hundreds of Wayne County parents attempted to opt their children out of their end-of-year assessments last week has sparked a civil liberties debate, causing many to question whether or not ultimate authority over public education lies with the state”. He goes on to say that the tests are tied to “federal mandates”. These mandates are tied to Common Core.

The SBAC tests are “assessments” - they aren’t used to grade students nor are they based on current curricula. There are concerns over privacy issues with regard to the data mining aspects of these tests - with “psychological profiling” one of the chief concerns. Speciale quotes Bob Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a nonprofit that monitors assessment policies across the country: “Policymakers are making things up as they go,” he said, adding that most states do not have laws governing assessment opt-outs. “Assessment policy is rarely about education,” he added. “It’s all political and about who has clout.” Indeed.

This has sparked a battle between parents and “education officials” with students caught in between. According to Speciale, John Waugaman, Wayne County’s assessment director, told students that their parents’ decision to opt them out of the test was “illegal”. This did not sit well with parents, whose posts in social media expressed considerable outrage - especially since according to Speciale, former state Superintendent Jim Phares said in 2013 that parents have the right to refuse testing.

Speaking on the Tom Roten talk show on radio station WVHU in Huntington, Spring Valley junior Eddie Stamper charged that local officials were trying to intimidate students into going against their parents’ wishes. In fact, he characterized their behavior as “bullying”. How ironic. Bullying has been a hot button issue in the school system. So who are the real bullies? Especially since there have been anecdotal reports that teachers are afraid to speak out regarding the SBAC tests for fear of reprisals from school and union officials.

WCHS television on their website corroborates that hundreds of parents at Spring Valley High School have opted their children out of the tests. The movement has reportedly spread to Harrison County. According to MetroNews, “As parents across the state opt out their students from the new [SBAC] tests, one county warns that option comes with consequences”. They quote Harrison County Superintendent Mark Manchin, “We simply cannot allow them to opt out, or decide that they don’t want to participate in the statewide assessment.” Can you believe that a public official would have such disdain for the rights of parents?

West Virginia legislators have gotten involved. According to an article entitled “Lawmaker pushes students to opt-out of testing” at Loganbanner.com, Delegate Michel Moffat whose district includes parts of Boone, Putnam, Logan and Lincoln Counties shared a post on social media encouraging students to opt out of the tests. He posted an opt out form and re-posted information “from a friend” that said, “It appears the W.Va State Superintendent, the W.Va State Board and W.Va. DOE [Department of Education] sit silently hiding within the walls of Building 6 as they leave their deception to school administrators who are bullying parents and students into taking the invalid, and unreliable SBAC summative assessments. They are fully aware that they are required to administer the tests, but there are NO requirements for a student to take the tests. So now school administrators are distorting the facts and telling students it is illegal for them to opt out or refuse the tests. Some school administrators are threatening to punish students with detention or suspension.”

According to MetroNews, Delegate Mike Folk whose district is in Berkeley County filed a lawsuit with Berkeley County Court Monday to stop SBAC funding. It quoted Folk, “This Common Core testing extracts around two months of time every school year from quality education our children could otherwise be receiving, and forces educators to teach to the test.” He added that it is “an unconstitutional attempt on the part of the Federal Department of Education to take over our state educational system.”

I am appalled that state officials would pressure students to disobey their parents. This is unconscionable - a flagrant violation of parental rights and is an unwarranted government intrusion into family life. Any school official engaging in this sort of activity should be summarily dismissed. I can’t imagine the unmitigated gall of these supposed “public servants”. Who do they think they are?

In the last legislative session, the House of Delegates voted to repeal Common Core in West Virginia. It was the Senate that decided not to, at the behest of Senate President Bill Coles. Meanwhile, the latest state to repeal Common Core is Tennessee. On April 20th, in a bipartisan vote, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted unanimously (97:0) to repeal Common Core. The following day the Tennessee State Senate followed with a (27:1) vote in favor of repeal. According to WSMV television in Nashville, “Legislators said the bill puts more control back in the hands of families, local schools and the state instead of federally generated standards for education”.

Amen to that. It appears that parents in West Virginia are beginning to understand what they are up against. By opting out, they are chiming in regarding the civil liberties question posed by Speciale in his article. But opting out is only a first step.