HB 1093, a bill to allow parents to refuse the academic summative assessments, which at this point are the SBAC tests, was heard in House Education Committee on February 11, 2015. This bill was defeated by a vote of 8-7.
The following Representatives believe that you, as parents, at a very minimum, have the right to have your representatives discuss this issue on the House floor. Representatives Campbell, Klumb, Kaiser, May, Hunt, Wollmann and Zikmund.
Those voting against a parents’ rights to decide what is in the best interest of their children are Representatives Deutsch, Gibson, Hawks, Holmes, McCleerey, Tulson, Johns and Sly.
I think what bothers me the most about this vote, is that if they would have voted yes on this bill, it would not have made the bill law. A yes vote to pass this bill, just would have meant that this bill would have gone to the House floor to be discussed by all of the people’s representatives, not just 15 carefully chosen people.
This begs a few question, “What are they afraid of?” “Why don’t they want the people’s representatives to have this conversation?” “What are they trying to hide?” “Is there something they don’t want brought out into the light?”
Here are the email addresses of those who don’t even want the people’s representatives to have this conversation.
Rep. Deutsch – rep.deutsch@state.sd.us
Rep. Gibson – rep.gibson@state.sd.us
Rep. Hawks – rep.hawks@state.sd.us
Rep. McCleerey – rep.mccleerey@state.sd.us
Rep. Tulson – rep.tulson@state.sd.us
Rep. Johns – rep.johns@state.sd.us
Rep. Sly – rep.sly@state.sd.us
Rep. Holmes – rep.holmes@state.sd.us
Here are the email addresses of all House Education Committee members. rep.campbell@state.sd.us, rep.deutsch@state.sd.us, rep.gibson@state.sd.us, rep.hawks@state.sd.us, rep.holmes@state.sd.us, rep.hunt@state.sd.us, rep.johns@state.sd.us, rep.kaiser@state.sd.us, rep.klumb@state.sd.us, rep.may@state.sd.us, rep.mccleerey@state.sd.us, rep.sly@state.sd.us, rep.tulson@state.sd.us, rep.wollmann@state.sd.us, rep.zikmund@state.sd.us
It is important that you contact your representatives immediately, whether on the Education Committee or not, if you believe parents have the fundamental liberty to direct the education of their children.
http://legis.sd.gov/Contact/LegislatorEmail.aspx?CurrentSession=True
South Dakotans Against Common Core 
Pingback: Common Core and SBAC: An Unreliable New Old Car | South Dakotans Against Common Core
Great rant, Mary, about the new-old car. I had been thinking about using a similar metaphor in my next testimony. When are you planning to rally the troops at the capitol? I haven’t heard anything. Shouldn’t we be getting moving on that? People are frustrated with the inaction. The legislature needs to see that opposition to Common Core is growing in South Dakota. They need some face time with moms from their districts. They need to see RED in the galleries. Please let us know what you are planning. If you can’t do it, please let us know also. Florence Thompson, South Dakota Citizens for Liberty, Board Member