LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION urging the New York State Congressional deleg-
ation to prevent the United States Department of Education from with-
holding Federal funds from states or taking any other punitive action on
the basis of students' standardized test participation rates

WHEREAS, It is the intent of this Legislative Body to honor and respect
the rights of parents to decide what is best for their children as it
relates to refusing to have their children participate in high-stakes,
developmentally inappropriate standardized tests; and
WHEREAS, It is right and just to grant states, individual school
districts and educators the sovereignty to develop a weighted promotion
system as it relates to the evaluation of a school teacher's perform-
ance; and
WHEREAS, The rigor of the recently administered Common Core tests for
children in grades three through eight is excessive and causes many of
these students undue and severe emotional trauma; and
WHEREAS, The very concept of a centralized government in a free nation
forcing a curriculum on children that places an over-emphasis on the
over utilization of high stakes standardized tests in a way that is
disproportionate to accurately evaluating a student's performance in the
classroom is heavy-handed in nature and counter to the American way and
the tenets of our educational system; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan himself acknowledged
serious flaws in the standardized tests that currently drive American
schools, telling an audience of education researchers in 2013 that the
tests are an inadequate gauge of student and teacher performance; and
WHEREAS, Hundreds and thousands of New York parents have demonstrated
their frustration with this culture of testing by opting their kids out
of the grades three through eight Common Core tests this year; and
WHEREAS, As a result of thousands of New York parents exercising their
rights to determine their kids' educational futures, the U.S. Secretary
of Education Arne Duncan has threatened to impose sanctions and penal-
ties against states that fail to comply with certain participation
levels in these tests; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pauses in its deliberations to
urge the New York State Congressional delegation to use all means in
their power including introduction and passage of legislation to protect
the rights of parents to decide what is best for their child's education
when it comes to participation in high stakes Common Core testing and
protecting New York State schools from being penalized for low partic-
ipation rates by the United States Department of Education in the form
of withholding Federal funds or taking any other punitive action on the
basis of students' standardized test participation rates; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to President Barack Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan,
Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid, Senator Charles Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and each
member of the New York State Congressional delegation.