Dear Friends and Supporters of Education Liberty Watch,

We have great news! We are writing to thank you for all your past involvement in the fight for education freedom; to reassure you that while we have been quiet lately, we have been  expanding in tremendous ways; and to announce our new projects!

Since my move to Florida, I have been trying to divide my policy work between the two states. As you can imagine, with all that is happening on the education front that has proven a difficult task. Therefore, after discussion with our wonderful board, the decision has been made to more fully focus on the massive problems caused by the Common Core system of national standards, federally funded and supervised national tests and invasive data collection in Florida.  Florida has become “ground zero” for the imposition of Common Core due to the political (of both parties), corporate, and foundation Establishment that wants a nation of trained workers instead of educated citizens. If we can stop it here where it is most entrenched, we have great hope that other states will follow suit.  And with your financial help, we can!

The bad news is that Common Core is the culmination of everything that the Maple River Education Coalition, EdWatch, and now Education Liberty Watch have been fighting these many years.   It consists of national control of education standards resulting in a national curriculum of low level, psychosocially-based workforce training skills, monitored by national assessments that test attitudes and beliefs far more than academic knowledge, and very invasive data collection.All of that results in a “womb to tomb” dossier on every child that will include career tracking that continues the School to Work system, psychological profiling, genetic data from early childhood and home visiting programs and many other tyrannical and unconstitutional outcomes about which we have been warning and fighting for many years.  We need your support to stand for truth and freedom against this extremely well-coordinated and funded effort.

The great news is that parents and citizens in Florida, Minnesota, and across the country are standing up to protect their children and grandchildren and the future of our republic.  The first of our special announcements is that under the auspices of Education Liberty Watch, I, along with Randy Osborne, a very experienced lobbyist and political strategist and Chrissy Blevio, a phenomenal grassroots organizer, have had the privilege of co-founding the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition  (FSCCC). This statewide organization, is composed of almost 40 state and national groups including Heritage Action for America; The American Principles Project; FreedomWorks; The Tea Party Network, a Florida coalition of 80 tea party groups; and the Florida Parent Educators Association, the largest homeschooling organization in the country.

Besides bringing together this coalition, here is a sample of what FSCCC has been blessed to be able accomplish with much more detail available on our website (www.flstopcccoalition.org):

      

• Stop one of the most invasive student data mining bills in the nation
  – a bill written by Jeb Bush’s foundation.
• Produce an extensively documented forty-five page policy analysis and an informative, eye-catching bookmark discussing the major of many problems with the Common Core system.
• Move Florida Governor Rick Scott from being an ardent supporter of Common Core to writing an executive order to hold three public hearings on the standards, and not even mentioning the standards in public any more. FSCCC and our coalition partners were heavily involved in those hearings.
• Get former Governor Jeb Bush, one of the nation’s leading proponents of Common Core and despite the millions of dollars from the corporate and political establishment as his disposal, to admit at a national education conference, “This is a fight on the right. This is not a happy, little place where we’re having a debating society. This is a fight…Right now, I would say, it’s a draw at best.”
• Conduct debates, forums, and interviews all over Florida resulting in over forty media mentions or interviews of FSCCC or its leaders, including nationally respected writers and media personalities like Glen Beck, Michelle Malkin, Joy Pullman of the Heartland Institute, Shane Vander Hart of Truth in American Education, and Richard Viguerie of Conservative HQ.
• Because of your support, I have also had the privilege of speaking at several national conferences; attending the national data conference of the National Center for Education Statistics thanks to the great work of former board member Polly Sorcan to understand the plans of the other side, and meeting with multiple congressional aides regarding Common Core and data privacy issues.

Meanwhile, lest you think that nothing is happening back in Minnesota, please know that while quieter on the surface, much has been happening in the North Star State as well. With much support and excellent comments from many across the state Education Liberty Watch took a stand against the illegal and revisionist social studies standards and offered testimony to the Minnesota legislature on many topics. Our wonderful treasurer and board member, Marjorie Holsten, has been speaking all over the state on the dangers of Common Core and advising a new group, Minnesotans Against Common Core (www.commoncoremn.com). And most exciting, our second big announcement is the formation of the Minnesota Child Protection League, also under the auspices of Education Liberty Watch.

MNCPL was founded by ELW’s predecessor group, EdWatch president Renee Doyle, and vice president, Julie Quist, as well as long-time child and family advocate Barb Anderson, and activists Michelle Lentz and Mimi Anderson, who is now a new ELW board member.

Here is some information about their very important goals and focus in the next year from their excellent website – www.mnchildprotectionleague.com:
     

• The MN Child Protection League is united in action to protect all children from exploitation, indoctrination and violence.
• The MN Child Protection League’s number one issue for 2013/2014 is protecting children from Dayton’s Bullying Bill, HF826, because it is UNSAFE, UNFAIR and UNFUNDED!
• No one should be bullied, including LGBT. But HF 826 is NOT about stopping bullying.
• They have developed a popular and compelling movie HF 826 “EXPOSED” that is available on their website.

Your past support has been an amazing blessing and has set in motion all of this tremendous work. However, the forces working to expand government, indoctrinate our children, limit educational options and destroy liberty have really stepped up their efforts and are spending hundreds of millions of dollars.Like David in the Bible and our nation’s Founders that stood against the most powerful empire on earth, because we have the truth on our side, with God’s Providence and your continued and gracious help, we can defeat this evil plan.

On behalf of Education Liberty Watch, the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition, and the Minnesota Child Protection League, I humbly ask you to continue supporting our efforts.  Any donation of any size is a great investment in the freedom and future of our children and this nation.  Fully tax deductible donations are gratefully accepted online on the front page of our website at http://www.edlibertywatch.org  or by mail to:

Education Liberty Watch

9601 Annapolis Lane North
Maple Grove, MN 55369

 

In Liberty,

Karen R. Effrem, MD

President