Publisher's note:  This is the conclusion of this series exposing Common Core.  We invite you to not only review all three installments in this series, we also urge you to learn more about this crucial issue and get very involved.  Like so many things facing us, it is up to each of us to do whatever we can to stop this scourge on our children.

Thais Alvarez:  Today public school students across Florida return to the classroom. They will be taught using a set of common core of standards. But do parents understand what is happening in their children’s public schools?  Have they ever heard of the Common Core State Standards initiative (CCSS)?

Considering that parents, as taxpayers, do, in fact, finance their children’s education (even though they are made to think it is “free”) they have a right and duty to know. One would think that parental involvement and decision making would not only be welcomed, but encouraged. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Public schools want to remove parents from the education process.

Within the past few years, the federal government set out to implement a federal form of education which violates the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, three federal laws related to education, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Florida State Constitution and Florida State statutes.

Federalizing or nationalizing education will strip parental involvement from their children’s education because local school boards, where parents have historically raised concerns, will no longer serve parents.  Parents would now have to address concerns at the federal level, and that is a daunting task at best.

A new study on Florida’s implementation of Common Core federal educational standards shows it will lower academic expectations considerably, as well as use the data mined from students and their families to build informational databases which can be used for marketing.  Worse, the taxpayers’ dollars will be used to finance all of these endeavors.

Publisher's note:  As this series continues, it exposes more and more of the problems with this insidious plan.  In today's installment, Thais discusses the money.

Thais Alvarez:  On Wednesday of last week, State Representative Debbie Mayfield, from Vero Beach of Indian River County, introduced House Bill 25 which would “pause” the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) until two requirements are met.  Read the bill here.

The first requirement calls for the Board of Education to hold public hearings in each congressional district of the State. This requirement is an attempt to restore the public’s confidence in our political system, as many parents and opponents of the CCSS have correctly pointed out that the CCSS were implemented as a result of a stealth campaign since parents and educators did not have an opportunity to participate in their review and adoption. Parents, who are the keepers of their children, should have a say in their children’s education.

Further, just because the word “public” is a part of “public education,” does not mean that public education is “free” nor “provided by the government,” as parents, through their taxes, finance their children’s “public” education; parents are the stakeholders and they should be at the forefront of the decision-making process.  Parents who are interested in becoming educated on what the CCSS entails should read Florida’s Common Core Standards Policy Analysis here.

Publisher's note:  I have recently had the privilege of meeting Thais Alvarez. She is a remarkable young woman, an attorney, and a scholar who not only teaches at the grade school level, she is also a college professor.  She is among the growing number of citizens that is speaking out against 'Common Core;' few however possess her credentials, knowledge, and fire on the subject.  I am honored to offer our readers her series of articles concerning this threat to our children.  

Over the next month, these informative articles will appear in staggered format so that all three in the series will ultimately be available in these pages so as to be connected.  They may be a bit long, however they are packed with a wealth of information that should be required reading for everyone, with or without children.  I encourage everyone to get a firm grip on this very serious subject which is designed to warp the minds of our youth. 

Thais Alvarez:  There is growing controversy over the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) throughout the United States.  Grassroots movements are springing up everywhere in an attempt to educate voters who have never heard of the CCSS, hoping that they will join the ranks of those fighting against the CCSS.  Political activists’ efforts have also sought to address and educate school board members and other elected officials, such as county commissioners, representatives, senators and governors of the dangers of CCSS.  The greater goal for these activists is to gain the political commitment of elected officials for the repudiation of the already (emphasis added) implemented CCSS.

At this juncture, one may ask why political activists have to educate voters, and more specially, elected officials?  The answer is simple: mainstream media, for the most part, has not reported on the CCSS.  Moreover, the federal government has conducted a well funded campaign and forcing the states into adopting the CCSS.

Unless you have been to see the movie ‘2016: Obama's America’ recently, or have read the book, the term "Anti Colonialism" may be a term you are not familiar with, or even understand. To the general American public, it is virtually unheard of. I did not hear of it until recently, and when polling several of my friends, they were not familiar with it either. At this point, I decided that it was time to make sure I could educate as many people as possible on what it means, and how it is applied to the Obama Administration’s handling of public affairs.

It is rather self-explanatory in and of itself, meaning against colonizing.  America began as a colony of English men and women searching to escape the British.  They were successful in that effort by winning the Revolutionary War.  That is how we started, and grew into the greatest country in the history of the world. In doing this, and in our expansions into new territories over the years, we became very successful, and a very rich country.  By global standards, even the poorest Americans are rich in comparison to other nations.

According to Dinesh D'Souza the term "anti-colonial" is a term that is used around the world. It is the way that this movement and ideology have been described over many years. He goes on the say that "Anti-colonialism is the most powerful political force in the non-Western world in the past 100 years.” He also adds that, “Moreover, anti-colonialism has been exported to the United States - it arrived here as a consequence of America's close involvement in the last and bloodiest of the anti-colonial wars, the Vietnam War.