Remember "Cabbagegate"? This was the tale of a DeKalb County Georgia resident who was facing a fine for growing too much food on his two acres. He rezoned it to agriculture status, but he was still charged for growing too much food.This sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? Folks in Maine are taking these actions by the federal government quite seriously. Here is a story about citizens in Maine who voted unanimously at a town hall meeting to pass an ordinance that reinforces its citizens' God-given rights to "produce, process, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing," which includes even state- and federally-restricted foods like raw milk.
"Tears of joy welled in my eyes as my town voted to adopt this ordinance," said Mia Strong, a Sedgwick resident who frequents local farms. "I am so proud of my community. They made a stand for local food and our fundamental rights as citizens to choose that food."
This story reminds me of the health care sovereignty stand states have taken against Obamacare. Local and state entities are drawing the line for increased federal regulations that take away more and more individual freedoms.
My question for state legislators: why aren't you taking a stance against the incredible federal intrusion into education? Local control is gone and state control is being eroded away. State Boards of Education will be dissolved into "regional centers" for states. There is no reason for State Boards; state decisions for education have been signed away.
Why are politicians missing the opportunity to advance educational sovereignty? Look at it this way. Rewrite the sentence about food sovereignty to address educational sovereignty:
I am so proud of my community. They made a stand for local education and our fundamental rights as citizens to choose that education.
To the Missouri legislators and other states facing the same issue with common core standards: would you please explain the difference between health, food and educational sovereignty? Isn't sovereignty to be protected by our state legislators? Why aren't our elected officials addressing this question? Do our politicians REALLY believe the Federal government or a consortia (which receives Federal funding) should be directing our education?
Viewing our state legislators' current legislative educational bills (and in other states, based on emails I've received), the answer to that last question, is apparently, sadly, "yes". I can't find one (in Missouri) that attempts to rescind common core standards, stops funding of the standards, or prohibits the future signing away of our history and science standards when they come up for review. State sovereignty is non-existent when it comes to education in our state. Why don't they craft bills protecting educational sovereignty? Why are their fingers in their ears and their eyes closed when we ask this question?
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ReplyDelete@3rseduc / handsinthesoil,
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