Guess who testified against SB193

The Heartland Institute’s Joy Pullman recently released a bomb-shell article, entitled “Education Policies Led by Gates, Not States?”  It blows a large hole in the frequently cited myth that the Common Core initiative was “state-led.”

Pullman quotes Jay Greene, who runs the University of Arkansas’ department of education reform as saying:

The Gates Foundation completely orchestrated the Common Core.

She likens the large foundations, such as the Gates Foundation, to “Shadow Bureaucracies”  that “look a lot like lobbyists.”  Among Pullman’s findings are the following:

Gates has spent $163 million to develop the Core and corresponding curriculum, and to get lawmakers and business leaders to support it. Twenty-six of the 32 people who testified against a bill to withdraw Indiana from the Core are members of organizations the Gates Foundation funds.

Among those who testified against SB193 were individuals from Stand for Children, Teach for America, and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, all of which have directly or indirectly received funding from the Gates foundation. In fact, in a subsequent Letter to the Editor, which appeared in the Indianapolis Star, Indiana Chamber of Commerce member Joseph Crannell had the following to say:

As a paying member of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, I am deeply disappointed with its advocacy in favor of the Common Core Standards and against Senate Bill 193, a bill that would pull Indiana out of Common Core. There is not one shred of evidence that can be argued in favor of Common Core.

As national experts recently testified to the Indiana Senate Education Committee, Common Core ushers in nonlinear math calculations, eviscerates classic literature and fails to coordinate reading and writing standards.

So why is the Indiana Chamber of Commerce taking the lead position in advocating against SB 193? Would it have anything to do with the $4.6 million that the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce affiliate has received from the Gates Foundation since 2007? I note that the Institute for a Competitive Workforce sponsored the Indiana Chamber’s education conference the day after the Senate committee’s hearing.

I am very fortunate to have an intelligent, hard-working group of employees. This has allowed us to compete on a global stage. But I am deeply concerned that, if Indiana continues with the implementation of the Common Core, our ability to compete nationally and internationally will be hindered.