2-19-15
Representative Debra Lamm (R) – Livingston – has introduced a bag full of anti-Common Core, anti-Board of Public Education bills.
Lamm was formerly the primary lobbyist for the anti-public school Montana Family Foundation and then head of the failed Montanans Against Common Core. Now she is a state legislator and, surprisingly, vice chair of the House Education Committee.
All four of Lamm’s Kill Common Core bills were heard Feb. 18 in House Education Committee.
Lamm has turned Montana’s Common Core State Standards into a blunt instrument to beat public schools about the head and shoulders . . . all in her determination to privatize Montana’s public schools. Lamm’s agenda has nothing to do with how well public schools educate all children in Montana.
Lined up to testify against Lamm’s attacks on Common Core: dozens of parents, Montana PTA, business leaders, school board members and administrators, and some of Montana’s top teachers, including 2011 Montana Teacher of the Year Paul Andersen (also serving on the state Board of Public Education — and an MEA-MFT member).
Speaking in favor of the Lamm bills: A couple of out-of-state “experts” who feel they know what’s best for Montana, Montana Tea Party activists, and a handful of others.
The hearings went on for almost seven hours. The
MEA-MFT and other friends of public education are working together to stop these bad bills.
Important information about Lamm’s main bill, HB 377, and Common Core
Livingston Enterprise article about the showdown.
Lamm’s bills
HB 376 (Lamm)
HB 377 (Lamm)
HB 501 (Lamm)
HB 521 (Lamm)
Read what some of the best teachers in Montana think about Common Core:
Montana Teachers of the Year
Montana Presidential math and science awardees
Anne Keith: Teacher of the Year and National Board Certified teacher